Next up for the community spotlight is the fresh young talent - Dan Richie. Hailing from Suffolk, East Anglia, he’s one of many who’s proven his dedication to the art of freerunning and is rapidly making a name for himself within the scene.
Dan Richie
UF: Full name please?
Dan: Dan, but most people call me Richie.
UF: So Richie is your freerunning ‘alias’ as it were?
Dan: Yeah, well I kind of just picked it up at school and most of my mates call me it, so may as well keep it. *Laughs*
UF: How old are you at the moment?
Dan: I’m 16.
UF: Still a baby then…..Where are you currently based?
Dan: I currently live just outside of Bury St Edmunds, in Suffolk. It’s where I train the most.
UF: Interesting, there seems to be a lot of talent emitting from there in the recent months. Moving on, how long have you been training and what was your inspiration to take up such a discipline?
Dan: Yeah yeah, Suffolk’s full of people just gettin’ out there and doing it. Anyway, I saw the Jump Britain video with a mate called James, so we walked into the town and just kinda tried to copy stuff we’d seen. We didn’t know anyone in the area but we just kinda started… I think when we bumped into some others doing it it kinda kicked it off for me. Then I met some guys at the school I had just joined and they knew what they were talking about and I just started training with them. One of those guys is Toby Kipling. I still train with him regurlarly nowadays and we’ve become good friends because of this. I’m glad he made it as a UF sponsored Athlete. For me, I don’t really see it as a discipline though… Some may, but for me. It’s what I do everyday and I’d never stop. *smiles broadly*
UF: Jump Britain, the inspiration for many… When describing your training, or everyday activity as you worded it, would you say you practice Parkour or Freerunning?
Dan: *laughs* The parkour versus freerun question… I dunno man if you were gonna ask me i’d say freerun…. But somedays I’ll go out and just do vaults and precisions depending on how I’m feeling y’know?
UF: Interesting. Are there any particular techniques you’ve recently drilled or learnt?
Dan: Erm, well I got a couple of nice big kong-to-precisions down. But in the last 2 days I’ve gotten corks consistently and two step wall flips so im pretty happy with myself at the moment.
Upside down at Jubilee Gdns, Southbank.
UF: Very nice indeed. Any techniques you wish to learn in the near future?
Dan: Well im on study leave at the moment, so I’d be happy if by end of my nice long summer I’ve got wallflip 360s and backflip 360s. I’d love to go down to Southbank again soon and try some more of the stuff I didn’t get a chance to do last time at the Free London jam.
UF: Sounds like a good plan. Any particular hotspot within Southbank that you particularly like, and why?
Dan: I love the stone circle. I mean its not really great for flow but it kinda just seems to make everyone wanna just do nice big flip trains… And you get to see everyone try something.
Either that… or the Baby 45.
UF: Cool. Would you say freerunning has impacted your life in any major ways apart from just lifestyle?
Dan: Well I get stressed quite a lot. Especially like at the moment with my exams, so I find if I go out on my own… Just with an iPod then I can chill and if im out training with anyone just have a laugh. I’ve made a load of mates and I find pretty much everytime I go to a UF jam I meet a load more….You don’t get this kinda community feeling like anywhere else. *laughs*
UF: Making friends is always great. What do you think it is that keeps the freerunning community so close and the bond so tight?
Dan: I dunno, I guess its because in terms of a sport, it’s something you have to really put a lot of effort in to. You can’t just learn this kinda stuff in a day. Or at least, have perfection with the techniques and some people tend to be really self centered and big headed about what they can do. I think its the fact that everyone’s so modest about what they can do, and so willing to help people new to it. I realise that I’m starting to sound like im philosophical, but I’m not! *Laughs*
UF: On the topic of philosophy, what is your opinion of David Belle?
Dan: Well i’d like to meet him. People always seem to make so many judgements about him and say things like… ‘well david said this’ And… well to be honest it would be enlightening to see what he actually has to say.
UF: That’s a very interesting answer. Apart from DB, are there any other practitioners, worldwide or locally, that you admire?
Dan: Sebastién Foucan, definately. I also saw Damien Walter’s new sampler video which actually blew me away! Or Livewire… I’d love to have my handstands anywhere near half as good as his.
UF: Have you ever had any serious injuries caused by your training?
Dan: Yeah… I had tendonitis for quite a while. And I fractured both my elbows falling off a wall. Apart from that I’ve been prety lucky. *Laughs*
Upside down again but this time at the stone circle.
UF: You fell off of a wall? What’s the story behind that?
Dan: Well back in the days of being a noob, I decided it’d be cool for my first kong to be off a 2m high wall. You don’t land kongs properly first time… So i landed on my face and elbows, which kinda hurt.
UF: Sounds pretty nasty. Have you fully recovered or is it still healing over time?
Dan: Nah, I’m all good at the moment. I’ve gotten over my tendonitis so lifes all good. *Laughs*
UF: Brilliant. What about issues with the police, any of those?
Dan: Well police in our area are pretty good, but for some reason recently we keep getting stopped though, it’s kinda anoying… I seem to be collecting yellow encounter forms on my bedroom wall at the moment so it’s not all bad. *Laughs* I think the key is , if someone asks you to move on just be polite and do as they say.
UF: Good thinking. Okay, picture this scenario. You’ve been training for 4 hours straight and you’re dying for something to eat and drink. What would be your ideal choice of meal?
Dan: Okay. Well its obvious. I’d head on down to Subway and grab myself an Italian BMT on hearty Italian bread with extra cheese and a Coke. That is the best sandwich ever!
UF: Let’s get serious, what are your views on Freerunning competitions and events?
Dan: What do I think of the events? Well, let’s face it. There is no competition to match the scale of what UF are doing. They seem to come out on top everytime. People might argue against that but as a team, they fly around the world doing stuff in Dubai, Poland and the USA…Like practically everywhere worldwide and yet they still have time to arrange community jams and set competitions to give away loads of free stuff. I think UF have pretty much got it all right… The only thing is, is that I dont win enough free gear! *Laughs*
UF: Why do you think the UK scene is looking so healthy right now?
Dan: Well the UK’s always been active and I think because UF are making freerunning and parkour so easy to get into, its widening the appeal a lot. I mean if you live near London (and I think there’s a big jam coming up in Wales) you can go along to freerunning workshops/jams and have an awesome time. And because UF are based in the UK it makes it easy for anyone in the UK to come to the training days. But to be honest without Jump Britain, which was a great success for UF, the ball wouldn’t have gotten rolling. I know im kinda sounding like a UF fanboy but they deserve the mentioning and the credit because they are pretty much the core of the global scene.
UF: Ok enough brown nosing…..Let’s say you were to win the lottery. After looking after your family and having a little spending spree, how would you spend some of that cash on your sport of choice?
Dan: I think I’d buy a gym. Proper build it up and maybe have a concrete wall with climbing stuff but not have it like a tumble soft floor just an indoor concrete jungle. Slap some massive speakers in there and like charge people something like a quid a session just so it could be self sufficient. Or perhaps I’d just go and straight up buy the Dame Du Lac, and add some more walls and stuff to it. Yeah, I’ve had dreams like this before. *Laughs*
UF: Ok Dan, you go and enjoy those dreams. Thanks for talking to us.
Dan: A pleasure, cheers.
Article and pictures courtesy of David Fox.
Community Spotlight Number One: Gary ‘Surreal’ Lawrence
Community Spotlight Number Two: Conor ‘Contrix’ Doughty
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The 2nd Pic is Such a Sick Pic =]
Yeah i agree 2nd picture = awesome. By the way what was you doing in your second picture?
errm- the jubilee gardens picture im doing a sideflip off the big wall.
… and the stone circle is me trying to rep glyphs in the middle of a sideflip aswell… but pretty much phailing at it lol
well done dan mate..
The ‘Quid a Session’ idea is one i have been advocating for about 10 years now. Sport should be free. How can sport centres put a price on running around. i know the complexities of costs of running a sport centre, but its about time there was a supportive economic structure to enable kids everywhere to participate.
loved your interview. love the pics, awwwsomme. when i was younger i did trampolining competitively (free at school) and i had started to visualise backflips off the bannisters at home, and thought i must be going a bit mad. So pleased Parkour took off, a natural perspective that comes with being incredibly fit and light.
Love and light, Adele at 49yrs old.