A Blogless Year

It's been a long, as in many physical days have gone by, yet quick, with the feeling that it was only last week we arrived back from the UK... yet I'm already receiving invites to Christmas parties!!! Sort of a Time-Warp feeling, with the high speed slow motion cameras (inside joke for anyone who watches Time Warp... Speaking of which did you see the episode where they had showed parkour in slo-mo? Make sure you check it out: Time Warp Website on Discovery)

This entry is going to be an open blog, and I will endeavor to include all the things that have happened this year in one post since the February entry, right up until new years. That way I can really have almost one whole year in the single post. Who knows, I might be able to find some pictures here and there to add in and spice it up a little.

From packing and shipping boxes from the UK, then living in empty houses for months, everything arriving and unpacking, finding work, meeting up with older friends and older (plus new) family, getting back involved with Parkour South Africa and seeing how it's grown and go through changes, parkour media growing, finding new work, gardening, new cars, breaking bones...

Just for starters... ;-)

Back in South Africa!

For those of you who have been hiding under a rock or on another planet for the last few months, our family has moved back to Sunny South Africa. Generally the phrase "for good", would be used here although I've no idea what new adventures might present themselves in the future. So for now I’ll stick with: We’re here for the foreseeable future. :-)


It all came as a quite unexpected result to what we thought was going to be a routine process in receiving our “indefinite leave to remain” in the UK.
The short version of the story is because we travel on South African passports, we need visas to both live and work in the UK (yes, 2 separate visas). This process can be extremely simple in many instances, but then turn rather complicated and nasty the minute anything out of the ordinary comes along.

Such was the case with us. From the onset our application posed all sorts of complicated issues, resulting in many months of frustrating to and fro between the UK Home Office (may they have sleepless nights) and our legal representatives (including, but not limited to, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats who tried to assist our case as he too believed we were being wronged in this instance).

Not to mention the exorbitant amounts of money we lost in the process no thanks to the Home Office (taking their money upfront before even looking at the application), our legal representatives (the first being the absolutely useless www.workpermit.com who never even submitted our application but still charged, and then us later changing to Breytenbachs who also charged up front and only managed to get slightly further down the line), plus all the extra bits and pieces which we were required to complete, and pay for, before filing the 1st application.

One such extra item was the absolutely hilarious process called: The Britishness Test! Buy books to learn ridiculous items such as “What day is Christmas day?” and “What is the patron saint of Scotland?” to the completely ludicrous ones such as “What is the percentage of minority groups in the London region?” and “How many seats are there in the Welsh assembly?” Then pay more money to write the test at a “registered office” around the back of beyond in a dodgy part of Hounslow. This entails sitting behind an ancient computer clicking multiple choice answers and walking away within 10 minutes with your “official Britishness certificate” printed off on some random outdated HP printer using standard Tesco cheap paper and blotchy printer ink!!!! (Please remind me, UK is a 1st World country right?)

The bottom line is... we’re back in SA and making the most it. We’ve moved into our house and slowly settling in although still not quite on our feet yet. One thing that has been quite amazing is the hospitality and friendship shown by family, friends, Parkour South African members and even complete strangers which has made us feel right at home and certainly keeps a smile on our faces!!
For all of you from other parts of the world, keep South Africa on your list of holiday destinations and make sure you drop by us to say “Howzit”* at some stage or the other.

Till then, and till my next update, I wish you all well and think of us as we pick up our standard SA suntans while gardening outside and relaxing on the patio drinking sundowners.


*Howzit: A very typical South African greeting. Which directly means: How is it going? Or how are you?, and carries little more weight than the regular: “Hi”. To which the standard response, if any is actually given, would generally be: “Lekker” which is the Afrikaans word for “Nice”, also meaning “Good”.

MOvember

Need I say more....?

I heard some friends were taking part in this thing called "movember", then I got the obligatory dare thrown in my face, and before I knew it the idea had started to grow on me (quite literally).

Each year during the month of MOvember (formerly known as November), Mo Bro's (formerly known as Men) across the globe grow taches (formerly know as a moustache) of all shapes and sizes to raise awareness for their chosen charity. (If you are feeling generous this 2008, then please donate here: www.justgiving.com/TeamMovember)

Once the tache had started taking shape I then promised myself I'd read up a little more on prostate cancer as I knew very little about it. Let's face it, in a few years I'll probably have to make that akward trip to the Docs to get checked. YOU know the visit I'm on about.... the rubber gloves, the uncomfortable silences. I mean, really. Is it too much to ask the doctors to throw in a candelit dinner and some chit-chat before they begin?

Well, as it turns out Prostate Cancer is THE most common cancer found in men now-a-days (previously it was lung cancer) and 1 man dies each hour because of it in the UK (With over 3 times as many in the USA). Interestingly Diabetics are at a lower risk due to reduced insulin levels. Thanks to continuous research and development, screening has become a lot easier, less invasive and more accurate which ultimately leads to higher chances of recovery.

There are tons of conflicting suggestions around regarding cancer prevention, with each person and their dog doing their own research. Your best bet is to follow the basic weight guidlines on Cancer Research UK's "Reduce The Risk" website.

Everyone is recommended to eat foods such as Brazil nuts, fish, meat and eggs for their Selenium content, and another reason to eat more fish is Omega-3 (Found in salmon, mackerel and tuna).

But whichever way you look at it...
...Grow your own Tache next MOvember!!

(Ok, so it won't prevent cancer but at least you'll be doing something positive by raising awareness. PLUS the added bonus of looking as ridiculous as the rest of us...)

London Rat Race 2008

Facts:
- 216 Teams (180 on the Sunday)
- 3 in each team
- 2 Members from Team Traceur (Nick and I)
- 1 Parkour Obstacle Course

Mission (Should we wish to accept it, of course):
- Ensure all teams complete the Parkour course successfully, and in one piece.

Results:
- Race Director's Report: Rat Race Website
- TV Footage Sat 22nd Nov 7.30am, Channel 4 (8:30 Channel 4 +1)
- Photos by Detail Events Ltd (unless otherwise stated)
- Photos Online at SleepMonsters
(Navigate on the left of the page for "Parkour Prologue" and "Finish Parkour")

Being the first time I'd ever been involved in this event I had no idea what to expect other than we had to set up a basic parkour course somewhere along the South Bank on Saturday and then again near City Hall on Sunday, and when the competitors turned up we had to make sure they got through the course before letting them move onto the next official checkpoint (They had over 30 in total to get through).

The only hassle was.... we had no idea when the various teams would turn up as they were allowed to complete the checkpoints in any order they wished. Which in turn meant we could be sitting quietly for hours before a mad rush ensued. Which is exactly what happened! :-D

We had great parkour routes set up, and when done properly would take the teams no more than 3 minutes to complete. It involved jumping over railings/walls, cat crawling along ledges (Although we caught many teams chickening out on this), precision jumps (more like "precision walking") across obstacles.

Most teams only managed to clamber over at best by the stage they arrived at our checkpoints as they were already quite exhausted after completing all the other checkpoints and plus all the miles of cycling they had to do inbetween.

The Saturday "Prologue" event had everyone trying their best to stick a BUFF HEADWEAR sticker, which they carried throughout the parkour course, as high as they could by popping up the side of a wall. Team Tutu held the position for the highest sticker, but were pipped right at the end by one of the last teams to come in. Unlucky guys. There's always next year. :-)

Very well done to all who completed the course especially Team Aberdeen Asset Management who were the overall team winners at the 2008 London Rat Race.

White Air Extreme Sports Festival 2008

Another year on the Isle of Wight running the Parkour "Have-a-go" workshops at the White Air Extreme Sports Festival has come to an end, but the beginning of a new era has just begun...

White Air 2008 Promo Video

For 4 years now I've been involved in the parkour workshops around Sept/Oct on the Isle and have enjoyed it very much. Young and old, guys and girls, parents, kids, RAF Falcon skydivers, St John's medical staff, mountain boarders, and the list goes on... all have tried their hands (and feet) at parkour on our pupose built obstacle courses. Each year we attract many "repeat offenders" who just can't get enough of the atmosphere and end up sticking around for the whole weekend to help out, plus not to mention the large amount of local traceurs and free runners on the isle of wight who turn up.

Each year I've grouped together new people who are keen to help set up and run the workshops and with a result we've ended up with some fun times, new friendships and random memories. (Click the image below to see some of the pictures this year)

From Isle of Wight 2008

This year was a big event in that it was officially anounced White Air is moving to Brighton from 2009 onwards. For many who came down to join us it will mark the end of an era as the Isle of Wight has always been a great excuse to make a holiday of the event and really get into the festival mood. But I guess we will soon find out what atmosphere Brighton will create once we get there. Who knows, it might even be better. It's definitively going to be bigger!!

The South African Newspaper

An article was recently written up by Liezl Maclean on my involvement with parkour in the UK and South Africa. I have just got to see the online version which I quite like.

Similar versions of the article were also placed in the Australian Times (Front Page) and New Zealand Times (Page 7).

Feel free to read it by clicking on the main image above..

And the award goes to...

What a great way to end the season!!

From Athletics

At no point was I expecting to receive anything at the St Mary's Richmond Athletic prize giving today as I only managed to grab 2nd spot (or 3rd depending on Neil Jennings' performance at the decathlon this weekend) on the club's overall men's top performance list (Just missing out to Paul Derrien and his string of wins in hammer and discus) plus I missed out on the highest scoring individual performance (Awarded to Mervyn Glover for his excellent 1.92m High Jump), and when my name was called out you can imagine the surprise..

The trophy was for "Most Improved Male Athlete 2008", as it is my first season at the club (and back at athletics after a long break). I also picked up a medal for being part of the team who became the "Rosenheim League Western Division Winners 2008".

It was also an honour to be a part of two other teams who did very well this year, firstly the Southern Men's League (Division 3S) who were undefeated and have now been promoted to Division 2, and secondly to the small 8-man team who triumphed at the Ealing Borough Trophies competition and won the Men's Faringdon Trophy against all odds (certainly one of the most memorable events I've had to date picking up 4 personal bests in what felt like an intense never-ending cold shower from beginning to end the way the rain came pouring down.)

That puts 2008 to rest and I've not managed to improve on any of my events since I last posted them up here, but here they are for the final time to round off the season and I've included markers for what I want to aim for during next season in brackets:

400m - 59.9s (56s)
High Jump - 1.80m (1.85m)
Long Jump - 6.18m (6.30m)
Triple Jump - 12.11m (12.20m)
Pole Vault - 3.00m (3.50m)
Shot Put - 9.01m (9.20m)
Hammer Throw - 17.94m (20.00m)
Javelin Throw - 49.70m, 163rd in the UK (50.00m)

Let the winter training begin....