Winterval at LEAP

After a day to sleep off the jet-lag I headed back to the LEAP facility for the Parkour Generations Winterval event.  The idea was initially inspired by the success of the Rendezvous events held in the summer and meant to encourage people to train in the colder months of the year as well as the nice ones.  It also served as the launching event for the LEAP Park, which had officially opened the day before.

The location for Winterval 2012. (Photo courtesy of Saiyan Parkour Academy)

While the weather was a bit colder than it is for Rendezvous in August, Winterval had the same great community feeling and atmosphere that seems to be especially prevalent at the Parkour Generations events that I've had the opportunity to attend.  The participants were divided into different groups based on their skill levels and spent the day training throughout the park and the surrounding athletic facilities with instructors from a wide variety of backgrounds.

I spent the day coaching alongside the other PkGen staff and a number of guest coaches that had been invited from the Greater London area.  While there were definitely a few downsides to not being a participant (it’s a lot colder for the instructors than most people realize) it was great to be back coaching in the UK and to be able to work with a wide variety of skill levels.  Since we had some free time throughout the day I also got a bit of time to reacquaint myself with the park (until then, I’d only trained on the park once the rest of the Westminster facility had been closed down for the night) which seemed to just as daunting in daylight.

Leon and Dan planning their station for the day.  (Photo courtesy of  Saiyan Parkour Academy)

Overall, I think that the event went really well and should be a staple event on the "parkour calendar".  Not only is there a big lack of events going on during the winter months, but I think that the there was also a bit more a "

For a better look at the park and to get a feel for the event, check out the video below that was made by fellow globetrotter Bruno "Rachacuca" Peixoto:



Some more pics...

Hanging out with some of the other instructors and making my typical "photo-face".  (Photo courtesy of  Saiyan Parkour Academy)

Photo courtesy of Parkour Generations.

The "official" group picture from the event.  I'm right above Forrest with my hat over my face- thanks Abdu. (Photo courtesy of Parkour Generations.)