The Stand tries: Parkour

I must confess to not knowing the first thing about Parkour before I signed up, other than its French origin. Up to yesterday my most dangerous pursuit de ‘Français’ was eating some out-of-date brie (apologies for the cheesy joke), but in the company of Fife Parkour this was all about to change.

For those of you who are A) Amish, or B) me two days ago, Parkour is all about vaulting, balancing, climbing, and generally finding creative ways to get around. There’s a three-storey building in my way? Challenge accepted! It was quite a shock to my previous mentality of ‘This pavement’s getting a bit narrow. Bugger it, I’m going home.’

Fife Parkour is a club that makes St Andrews their playground, and teaches its members the various techniques, including (in my all-too-short time with them), banister-vaulting, wall-scaling and balancing along handrails! It’s also a pretty hardcore fitness class if you like to work up a sweat, because seriously, do you actually enjoy jogging? The class is run by John ‘Hedge’ Hall, who, despite recovering from a dislocated ankle, was perfectly capable of outrunning and out-jumping yours truly. Yes, a dislocated ankle. This is a dangerous game even for the pros, which is exactly why I’d recommend giving Fife Parkour some of your time before you go throwing yourself down the travelator.

It’s a genuinely awesome organisation, and I thank Hedge and Co. for their friendliness and teaching ability. Even I, with the physique of a not particularly rugged infant girl, felt improvement in the space of an hour. Suffice to say, you’ll come on leaps and bounds! (Pun intended, as always.)

Lessons start at £4 for a two-hour session, or £16 for a block of five sessions. Frankly, that’s a pretty good price to pay for the closest thing you’ll get to feeling like Spiderman. From a guy who gets his exercise by lifting particularly heavy Doritos, it’s a great way to see St Andrews in a whole new light. Interested? Drop [email protected] a message.

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