Fish Hoek ‘urban gymnasts’ impress at national champs
Members of Fish Hoek-based Drakes Academy Parkour Gym performed well at the recent national gymnastics championships or SA Gym Games 2024, held at the Wynberg Military Base sports complex.
A relatively new addition to the gymnastics, Parkour is similar to traditional gymnastics disciplines in that it involves running, jumping, flipping, vaulting and climbing over a series of obstacles in an attempt to get from point A to point B in the fastest and most efficient way. However, instead of taking place indoors, it takes place outdoors, typically in an urban environment. As such, it can best be described as “urban gymnastics”.
Parkour first started in the 1990s in France and featured at the opening ceremony of this year’s Olympic Games in Paris.
Practitioners of the sport are called traceurs with the Fish Hoek youngsters part of the Western Province traceurs who won the lion’s share of the medals and national titles at the SA Gym Games.
While all the gymnasts competing in the Gym Games 2024 were in the sports hall, the Parkour traceurs could be found outside showing off their skills on the purpose-built obstacle course.
The traceurs, who had qualified earlier in the year at the district qualifier and the Western Cape championships, in Fish Hoek, wowed the crowd with everything from back flips and cork screws, to swing gainers and kong vaults.
