Wirral free-runners jump to national acclaim



A HOP, skip and a whole host of jumps is what has catapulted Wirral free-runners "Apex Parkour" to national recognition.

The team, who describe themselves as "practitioners of the art of movement", have had a busy twelve months, with back-to-back appearances and competitions.


Combining a mixture of parkour, street stunts and free running, they have become a regular fixture on the streets of Wirral perfecting their moves.

And now, their round-the-clock training is paying off as they secure deals with MTV, Converse and have done work for drinks company Relentless Energy.

Team members, Nick Whitcombe,19, and Owen Hegarty, 18, are also set to hit the big screen in this autumn’s cinema release ‘Devil’s Playground’, alongside Hollywood actor Danny Dyer.

The group, who are Owen Hegarty, Will Sutton, Nathan Chapman, Matty Jones, Ben Jenkin, Kieron Kiyani, Robert Hughes, Jakk Lowry and Terry Lowe, are also set to feature in new teen drama ‘Streets Above’ this year.

Nick said: “This past year has been great for us. So much has happened for us, both as a team and for each of us individually. Being on a movie set is such an amazing feeling, seeing how things really work behind the scenes."

Nick first formed Apex Parkour seven years ago after being introduced to free-running by a friend, although at the time he knew little about the sport.

He said: “Back then there was just one video on the internet featuring the original practitioners in France. But now, all you have to do is type ‘free-running’ into a search engine and literally millions of videos will come up.

“There's no eventual goal for us at the moment other than keep training hard and travelling frequently to meet other athletes, though as a team we do plan to base ourselves in either New York or Los Angeles some time next year.”

Nick attributes the team’s overwhelming success to their commitment and perserverence over the years as well as their pure enjoyment of learning new skills.

He added: “Through Parkour you learn so many skills you can adapt to everyday life. The ability to efficiently problem solve whether it be a mental or physical obstacle and learning to discipline yourself plays a very important part in what we do.

“You have to understand that nothing is going to be easy first time round - there's things I've been trying since 2003 that i've only just achieved recently and the feeling of 7 years of hard work finally paying off is incredible.”

For more information on Apex Media, visit www.apexparkour.co.uk.


http://www.youtube.com/user/urbanlemur

There are some good bits of skill there, other bits I could do

I'm assuming they know Daniel Ilabaca - since they're all based in Moreton...?

One of them is my cousin (as previously posted) it's not all fun and games, he just had a small op on his ankle after an awkward fall.

Love it

very good