Red Bull: Can You Make It? Parkour Sloths

The Red Bull” Can You Make It? challenge will see 165 students teams from more than 50 countries attempt to blag their way across Europe using only Red Bull as their currency. Three teams from Exeter are vying for a spot in the competition, though they need your votes to even make it to the start line. We caught up with them in order to give you the lowdown. Meet the Parkour Sloths.

Head sloth is Eddie Reeder, a Computer Science fresher, while the rest of the trio is comprised of Rob Bourne a Physics student and Lotti Sorell studying English and French. I ask the team to suggest a meeting place beforehand, and on a surprisingly sunny afternoon, I find myself climbing a tree outside Mardon to conduct this interview. The race is on to finish before Estate Patrol turn up – pulses are raised.

Branching out

So whose idea was this?

A good friend of ours did it in her first year, she let us know about it and had an amazing time.

What’s your game plan then?

We’ve got one thing we bring to the team each. Rob has a propensity for waxing his legs, so if we win Rob will wax his legs. That could also help with aerodynamics [sounds like they are expecting a photo finish]. Eddie has a ginger tinge, he attempted to die his hair blonde recently, whilst intoxicated.

So if we do make it to the start line and get to go abroad we are going to dye Eddie’s hair completely white so traffic can see us better. Quite the sacrifice – but one we are willing to make. Lotti provides a lot, she’s fluent in like three languages [she blushes slightly here] before confessing “I feel like English doesn’t really count though, so it’s two. French and Spanish, maybe we should just say two”. In the end we decided that should we need warmth at any point, Lotti’s clothes will be the first kindling to make fire.

Trip romance – You heard it here first

At this point a friend interrupts the interview asking “What the hell are you doing up a tree?” No sign of Estate Patrol yet though, so we continue…

Any secret weapons?

Well the clue is in the name. We have parkoured some serious sites in Exeter. Parkour is our secret weapon. We can get anywhere with it. When we see a wall, we just climb it – simple as.

Have you got a soundtrack to the trip?

House sax  – we do love some house sax playlists. We are Snowsports members after all. We promise to come up with a whole playlist if people vote for us.

The sloth life chose us

So, why should people vote for you, apart from for a “house sax” playlist, that is?

So…. we’re committed, we love adventure, and we love the unknown. Imagine the anecdotes we’d have. We’d create legends. Literally.

If you like the idea of The Parkour Sloths climbing low-level flora across Europe in your name, you can vote for them here. Voting for nominations for this year’s Red Bull Challenges closes on Thursday at 4.00pm.