Free London: Southbank Jam – 5th April 2009

Waking up at 8:30am with a stomach full of Domino’s pizza and a little too much alcohol from partying the night before, wasnt exactly the greatest feeling ever. But knowing that in less than 3 hours later we would be at the Imax stairs where the action would begin for the 2nd UF ‘Free London’ jam, was enough to wake me up.

Arriving at the meeting point was certainly overwhelming. Last year’s open session was crowded enough, but this time the amount of practitioners that had turned up to the event was completely ridiculous. A total of 173 freerunners and tracéurs alike were out on form, all smiling and all have a good time and the fun had barely started. Seeing the Imax meet up point being completely packed to gridlock by practitioners, was a unique experience and for anyone walking past, they’d be forgiven for thinking some kind of G20 protest was about to kick off but with everyone garmed up in brightly coloured tees with Glyph’s on.

Ez arrived fashionably late with his bags full of  FSIGS, only to be engulfed by a swarm of apparel craving nutters. Fresh looking lime green, and zesty orange tee’s along with sweatbands and the ‘Freestyle Parkour’ black bands were dished out and snapped up within minutes. After the madness of free goodies had subsided, most people decided to start training whilst others watched in awe, admiring their peers, engaging in conversation or like me, snapping away as all the action unfolded.

We were there for quite a while in which time various other UF team members arrived with the likes of Kerbie, Bam, Cali and Marwan being greeted with handshakes all round. There was a film crew present to film with our American guest with the crazy hair (who’s name nobody can remember). They were busy filming the highlights of the morning and also continued throughout the day at various locations. They also filmed with a number of UF’s main players and the up and coming piece should be an interesting one.

After finishing up the training at the Imax area, everyone made their way down to the famous ‘Stone Circle’, favoured by urban trickers. Not long after arriving and dropping our bags to begin training, small crowds of people had started to form around the outside of the architecture itself, many with cameras and mobile phones, ready to capture the action. UF’s George Mayfield really stepped up aggressively to wow the crowds and the sheer height he was getting on his flips was a sight to behold. Many members of the public clapped throughout the performance which was completely unscripted but just made the vibe all the more enjoyable for all the practitioners present, who showed that skill levels within the UK scene are blazing hot right now. All that was missing was somebody going around with a hat to collect loose change from a thoroughly entertained crowd.

After that people seemed to break off into different groups depending on where they wanted to train. Some guys went over to Tramps Kitchen, whereas others tried their luck down at the Festival Pier, Jubilee gardens and the Hayward gallery. I decided to go and see how many people had gone to the Baby 45 and the area around it.

When I did arrive, I could instantly see that all was not well. Southbank Security officers had begun ushering practitioners off the walls and away from raised area at the top of the stairs. Ordinarily the security there are very tame and in this instance, nothing had changed, so everyone just continued training. That was until they realised that they weren’t capable of dealing with anyone in an intelligent manner, so they called in the police who rushed in like bulls in a china shop and showed equal measures of ‘intelligence’ as their renta-cop friends. By this point a small group of militant and defiant freerunners had chosen to protest by busting out backflips at the base of the stairway.  A few minutes later and three of the officers advanced towards UF’s Toby Kipling who had just dropped down from a  handstand. Feeling a paparazzi moment coming on, I continued to take photos of the confrontation, only to be threatened by one of the officers who claimed he would “seize” my camera under the Terrorism Act 2009 if I took “one more photo”. I didn’t fancy having my equipment taken away from me so I agreed and left sharpish.

That was pretty much the end of the excitement for that area, so all that was left to do was head down to the river as the tide was out. I got a few nice shots there (and sand in one of my lenses -_- ).

To sum the day up, it was quite simply an awesome day where (aside from the police/renta-cop incident) it was full of fun and had a carnival type vibe. It was great seeing everyone with positive attitudes ready to train, make new friends and help each other out. No elites, no noobs……just everyone under one banner of movement. Jams like this show that the UK scene is truly alive and kicking and this can only be a good thing. There’s already talk of a series of these jams to be setup throughout the summer, so roll on Free London III

If you attended today and would like to know if there are any photos of you that arent shown on this page or our Facebook pages, hit me up with an email that includes your name and description of what you were wearing and which location you happened to be training at and I’ll see what I can do.

Email: david@urbanfreeflow.com

Article and photos courtesy of UF photographer, David Fox.

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