Risk matches reward for urban freerunners

By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) - Yusuf Yirtici is a proud young father who extols the virtues of discipline, hard work and a responsible attitude to risk.

But as he does so, he is balancing in a handstand on a concrete ledge above a subway on one of the busiest road traffic islands in central London.

Yirtici is in training for the first global freerun championships, due to be held in London on September 3.

"Freerun is about risk, and risk is all about calculating," the 25-year-old told Reuters as he limbered up with three fellow competitors, shinning up lamp-posts and leaping over stairways in one of their favorite training sites by the river Thames.

"You make a calculation with your body. If you see a jump or a move that you feel you can do, then you should do it, even if you are scared. If you are afraid, and you don't make the move, then you are letting fear beat you. You have to overcome fear, and be successful."

These seem grand ambitions for an urban pastime whose roots lie in the sprawling concrete suburbs of Paris in the 1990s.

But freerun, or parkour as it also known, is fast growing into a recognized and respected international sport-cum-art able to attract big-brand sponsorship, blockbuster movie appearances and pop megastars like Madonna.

In theory, the basics of parkour are straightforward -- to get from A to B as quickly and efficiently as possible, using only your body and letting no obstacle stand in your way.

Freerun has the same core principles, but its practitioners place greater emphasis on individual expression, creative flow and artistic merit.

Urban Freeflow (UF), the sport's main representative body in Britain and the United States, gives detailed tutorials on its Web site of the fundamental techniques -- including such moves as a "crane moonstep", and "double kong vault" and a "360 wallhop".

"OUR FEARS KEEP US ALIVE"

When things get high -- or super-high, like the leaps from sky-scraping cranes and buildings that feature in the James Bond movie "Casino Royale" and Madonna's "Jump" video -- it is hard not to see freerun athletes as regulars at hospital emergency departments.

But according to Franck Nelle, a 28-year-old French national who will represent his country at the world championships under the stage name Cali, those who think freerunners are just wild adrenaline junkies have got it wrong.

"People think we are daredevils who would go for everything or anything. But we have fears like everyone else. Our fears keep us alive," he told Reuters.

"Discipline is so important. We train on ground level again and again and again until it's perfect, and only then do we take things up high."