I’ve become aware of this “sport” or as it is probably more correctly described, discipline and find it quite fascinating the way people are able to do this, but didn’t know what it was or was called. Well I now know a little bit about Parkour, so here we go!

Sometimes referred to as free running, though technically it is more than that, and free running is actually a related art more concerned with aesthetics. A Parkour participant, called a traceur, will generally be found in an urban area manoeuvring around the town or city using skills such as jumping, vaulting and climbing, or some of the more specific moves of the discipline.

It has it’s origins in france, and a traceur tends to describe the practice as a means for interacting with their environment. They will leap from roof to roof, and jump from them, often with a roll to flourish on the hard concrete/paved floor.

Parkour’s main aims are about evasion and reaching places that would be otherwise inaccessible, often for the purpose of evading a pursuer.

The name more than likely comes from the french Parcours meaning a journey or route (someone correct me if I’m wrong – my french is a little rusty)
The most well known traceurs are probably Sébastien Foucan, David Belle (both sites require flash and David Belle’s site is in French) and Stephane Vigroux, and subsequently following videos by the founder 3 traceurs has become popular in adverts, music videos and action films most notably in Luc Besson written Banlieue 13 in 2004, and Yamakasi – Les samouraïs des temps modernes in 2001

Sébastien has been in Madonna’s Hung up music video and this video shows some of the rehearsals – see the full video here – complete with sample from ABBA’s Gimme Gimme Gimme (I have such a gripe about this sort of sampling but I’ll leave that for another post)

Belle has been practising Parkour for 18 years since he was only 15 and is the founder of the Parkour Worldwide Association (PAWA) having conceived the idea as part of his youth. He would:

imagine scenarios where he had to use his physical abilities to escape difficult situations; scenarios where he would have to show strength and courage. How to get to a given place in order to carry out a rescue there? How to move so as not to be trapped? By acting out such scenarios, the agility of this intrepid youngster began to come into effect. Running, jumping, vaulting, climbing, hanging from things, keeping his balance, surpassing himself, developing his self-confidence, being able to overcome obstacles so he could contiinue to advance

Read more in this biography at parkour.net

I couldn’t find as much on Stephane Vigroux, and he doesn’t seem to have a web page, though I found an artcle on urbanfreeflow about the 3rd parkour founder

Sébastien split from the other two founders following a dispute over the depiction of free running in the filming of Yamakasi. He went on to film Jump London for UK television’s Channel 4 where he demonstrated free running/parkour in central london’s famous landmarks alond with Stephane’s brother Johann and Jerome Ben Aoues.

What you need now is some examples. Well, you can’t go too far wrong with the Wikipedia, Google Videos and YouTube combination, so here goes:
Nike Angry Chicken Advert – in french but dubbed into english
Toyota Scion advert Рwith S̩bastien Foucan and Jerome Ben Aoues
UK TV’s top gear: Peugot vs Parkour – What’s quicker at getting across Liverpool? A Peugot or the Parkour masters
David Belle for the BBC – Rush Hour – there’s loads more links on youtube if you like those