Barclaycard World Freerun Championships Tickets
To be staged at London's iconic Roundhouse venue on Weds the 3rd of September, the first ever World Championship is going to be a groundbreaking event for the Freerun discipline. Tickets can be purchased via the Roundhouse and are available on a very strict first come, first served basis. Anyone planning to come who hasn't yet secured a place, you have been warned. Tickets on sale here Preview of the obstacles here

Mayor's Thames Festival: Obstacle Preview
As reported a while back, we are playing a key role at the Mayor's Thames Festival on the 13th and 14th of September. Barclaycard, the principal sponsors of the event and our partners for the first ever World Freerun Championships, have worked with us to produce a bespoke structure that'll proudly sit on the grass at Jubilee Gardens (right in front of the London eye). The Southbank and surrounding areas have (over the last five years) become an iconic hotspot for practitioners of Freerun/Parkour and is the very place that gave birth to the UK scene. For us, this amazing opportunity is the icing on the cake and pays testament to all the hard work we've put into the development of the sport/art/discipline. Click here for a preview of the obstacles.

Swatch: Extended Edit
Here's a link to an extended version of the Swatch ad we shot in the Czech Republic. Thankfully, the annoying music of the original has been taken out. A 100% better edit in our opinion. You decide. Click here

Nipped In The Bud
Nippon TV from Japan, have just completed a shoot in London with UF athletes - Blue, Cali, Chima and Kerbie. Plenty of action was captured along with interviews. The piece will air on Thursday the 21st of August. As soon as we receive a video link, we'll post it here first.

Streetwear: New Merch
Recently we've had continued calls to produce some UF wrist sweatbands. So as of the end of September, we'll be releasing premium quality ones available in black or white, complete with embroidered Glyph logo's on. Before that happens, we'll also be launching a line of Glyph tee's with a slimmer streetwear cut. The initial product line will come with gold or silver foil prints and will be unveiled for the first time at the World's on the 3rd of Sept. Watch this space for more....

World's Update: Petebox On Board
The award winning Petebox has just been added to the lineup for the Barclaycard World Freerun Championships. Pete, will be providing the interval entertainment with his unique approach to Beat boxing, where he uses a loop pedal to create each layer of his tracks, before dropping into a full-on audio assault. Pete has just finished performing at Virgin's V Festival where he made a massive impact.

Off The Wall: Mission Complete
We've just put the finishing touches to the Sony Ericsson 'Off The Wall' tour and were blessed to have Newcastle as the setting for the finale. With the venue of the Metro Centre being completely under cover, any potential weather issues were put to rest and this left it for us to go out with a real bang. Joining us on the day were members of NEPK, who turned up en masse to showcase their skills which were matched by extraordinary levels of enthusiasm and energy. Overall the tour has been a highly successful one and we'd like to thank Sony Ericsson, Brando, Iris and Project 1 for making it all come together so seamlessly.

BBC Radio: Off The Wall
With our team currently in Newcastle, UK, for the final leg of the Sony Ericsson 'Off The Wall' tour, we've been taking part in a series of news pieces with local publications such as The Chronicle and The Journal. We were also invited to take part in a studio discussion on BBC radio, along with representatives from NEPK (North East Parkour), who are doing a fine job of nurturing their very active scene. They'll join us at the Metro shopping centre for the finale showpiece on Sat 16th of August. For anyone wanting to pop along, we'll be there from 12 - 6pm..

Roundhouse: Masterclass
On Friday the 22nd of August we'll be hosting an exclusive Parkour/Freerun masterclass at London's iconic Roundhouse venue. In addition, we'll be joined by a group of Roundhouse poets who'll sit in on the class, engage with our athletes and then prepare specific audio and visual material, that will be showcased on the night of the 3rd of Sept at the Barclaycard World Freerun Championships.

Nippon TV:  Japanese Exposure
Tuesday the 19th will see a crew from Nippon TV joining us in London, to film an extensive piece about the rise of Urban Freeflow, for broadcast in Japan on the following Thursday.....

Electronic Arts: Mirror's Edge
Many people within our community will already know about the up and coming Electronic Arts video game project; Mirror's Edge. The first person perspective game is gearing up to be dropped in November and is looking red hot! Its all set in a conformist dystopia in which communication is heavily monitored by a totalitarian regime. As a result, a network of freerunners, including the main character, Faith, are used to transmit messages while evading government surveillance.
Click here for demo

World's Interview: Andrejs 'DjuXa' Turanovs
Interview with the man representing Latvia at the Barclaycard World Freerun Championships on the 3rd of September. Click here

Timeout: Fitness
On the 26th of August Timeout magazine will be publishing a fitness based article about Urban Freeflow. It features UF athlete, Cali, giving a complete Freerun induction to a sports minded journalist of theirs....

Physical Graffiti
Here's the latest video offering from New Zealand based group, Physical Graffiti. Titled 'Parkour Is', it can be viewed by Clicking here

PK Day: Sanchez
Our next PK Day is set for Sunday the 24th of August and will be held outdoors as opposed to the originally proposed indoor one (blame Bowser). As per usual, we'll be dishing out some UF FSIGS on the day and will have roving cameras there to capture all the action. A selection of athletes competing in the Barclaycard World Freerun Championships will be there too. For anyone who's never been to one of our jams, its a great chance to meet like minded people, make new friends,  train with the pro's and most importantly, to have a LOT of fun. All levels of experience welcome and come rain or shine, we'll be there. Exact timings/meeting points to be confirmed over the next few days. Click here for a flavour of the last one which was hooked up at just 7 days notice and proved to be mucho fun.

Ninja Warriors: A Brother In Need
Japan's G4: Ninja Warrior TV show is currently selecting competitors to take part in their 3rd series and a request has come in from one of our US brothers, Ryan 'Cloud' Cousins from Chicago. He's up against a group of other hopefuls and with each and every vote making a difference, he's counting on the weight from our global community to give him that extra push to seal the deal. So to give Ryan a helping hand, please click here and follow the instructions.

World's Latest: Charlie Dark Plugged In
In addition to Jonzi-D coming on board for the Barclaycard World Freerun Championships as MC, we can also confirm Charlie Dark as our DJ for the duration. Charlie is the founder of the global Blacktronica movement and aside from being a DJ, he is a prominent writer and musician. To find out more about Charlie, checkout www.rundemcrew.com and www.myspace.com/charliedark

Off The Wall: Rained Out
First thing on Saturday the 9th of August, we had beautiful weather and everything set in place for another fantastic day of action at the Covent Garden leg of Sony Ericsson's Off The Wall event. With camera crews set in place, the sound system blaring and crowds gathering, we kicked off in flying fashion with a game of PIG. Then as is typical in the UK, the heavens opened up and everyone rushed for cover while it poured with rain. The rain was relentless, so unfortunately we had to call an end to the day much earlier than anticipated, but not before we were interviewed by NBC and the Press Agency. Next stop Newcastle on Saturday the 16th of August. There's talk of Covent Garden being revisited at a later date. More news to follow....

NBC
With Urban Freeflow currently involved in another wave of media interest, US network, NBC, will be sending a film crew to the Sony Ericsson 'Off The Wall' tour at Covent Garden on the 9th of August. Whilst there,  they'll film the team in action and will discuss with us our high profile work in movies and commercials along with our work in schools, with the police force and the armed forces. Also in attendance will be a crew from ITV and photographers from London Lite, National News and the Daily Mirror. UF's Bam has also been commissioned to shoot the days action for Sony Ericsson having already directed and edited all the exclusive footage embedded on the W760 handsets. Should prove to be a very productive and action packed day.

Metropolitan Police: Fitter kids
In October/November/December we'll be engaged to continue our work with the Met Police, when we get involved in the 'Fitter kids' scheme in Brent, UK. With kids spending less time doing physical activity and consuming the right diet these days. 1 in 3 children in the UK today are already overweight or obese. More than 70% of obese children and more than 85% of obese adolescents will become obese adults. The Fitter Kids scheme is in place to encourage our children to get fitter and stay that way so that they live longer, feel better and more confident about themselves, as well as perform better in school. In our eyes this can only do good, so of course we are delighted to be involved and play our part. Exact dates to be confirmed. Watch this space....

World's Update: Jonzi-D Confirmed
We're delighted to announce that UK hip hop icon, Jonzi-D, is on board to MC at the Barclaycard World Freerun Championships on the 3rd of September and also at the Mayor's Thames Festival on the 13th and 14th of September. Jonzi steps up with a wealth of experience and under his direction, the running of events on the night will be clearly communicated to all in attendance. Joining him on the presenters platform will be UF's Kerbie as our resident Freerun specialist, who'll be giving a rundown of techniques performed by the athletes on the night. Kerbie has recently been cutting his cloth on the Sony Ericsson 'Off The Wall' tour and anyone attending the Covent Garden leg on the 9th of August, will see that his ability to command a crowd will be a perfect compliment to Jonzi.

School's In For Summer
The newslite.tv website is currently running a story about how Parkour/Freerun is making an impact in schools across the UK. Click here

Return Of The Prodigal Son
A while back Chima decided to step down from our sponsored team line-up to deal with issues brought on by a niggling injury that he just couldn't shake. In the time that has lapsed, he's gone back to basics and built himself up with specific conditioning in complete isolation. He's now back to full fitness, stronger than before and ready to step back up to the plate. We'd like to take this opportunity to welcome him back into the UF family.

ESPN Coverage
US Giant network, ESPN, will be running a feature on the up and coming Barclaycard World Freerun Championships via their website. The ground breaking event is currently attracting masses of attention from around the world, so expect some very interesting developments to follow....

Basque TV ETB
The 5th of August saw a Basque TV crew fly into London from Spain in order to shadow UF athletes, Cali and Majora as they moved in and around the city. The piece will air as a current affairs one, much like the recent BBC Breakfast edit.

New Nation Feature
Britain's number one black newspaper, New Nation, have just completed a feature on UF, following on from the interest generated by the Observer piece we did with Jonathan Edwards. Our article will run in the week commencing the 11th Aug edition.

BBC: Breakfast TV
On the 4th of August we were invited to shoot with the BBC as part of a current affairs piece filmed at London's Southbank to detail the popularity in Freerun. It aired a total of 3 times on the morning of August the 5th featuring Asid, Bam, Cali and Ez, highlighting the up and coming World Championships and our teaching work in schools throughout the UK. Online version here

Epping Forest: Workshops
For the last couple of years we've been working with Epping Forest District Council on filming and teaching projects. This year we've been invited back to host a series of youth development workshops starting on the 6th of August at Waltham Abbey Sports Centre. Leading the way will be UF instructors, Asid and Cali.

Cali: Moving Through The Ranks
Having repped out of his skin most recently, Cali has just moved out of the UF sponsored team lineup and secured himself a spot on core  team. This new addition was a no brainer decision to make, as his skills and personality alone, speak volumes.

Kiss FM
Kiss FM are currently running ads detailing our partnership with Sony Ericsson and shining spotlight in the direction of the up and coming  'Off The Wall' tour. On Saturday the 9th of August, we'll be hosting the third leg of the tour and will be rolling out demo's at Covent Garden's Piazza from 12pm to 6pm. There will already be an annual www.3run.co.uk jam in effect at Southbank, which is only a stone's throw across the river, so anyone wanting to come along is more than welcome. Practitioners wishing to session the obstacles will however, need to contact us prior to the event as the recent Birmingham one was over-subscribed..

Stranger Magazine
Way back in the beginning of UK Parkour, an extensive article was written about Urban Freeflow by Helen Gilchrist, for Saab magazine. To date, it still ranks right up there with any articles we've been a part of. She's also the editor for a great UK magazine called Stranger, which is a Surf/lifestyle/current affairs one. They are currently featuring a spot on our up and coming Barclaycard World Freerun Championships which can be found by clicking here

Honda: Completion
We've just crossed the finishing line at the Honda Dreamscape event, staged at the ExCel as part of this years British Motor Show. It was without a doubt the most enduring project we've been involved in to date (48 x half hour shows over a 2 week period), but was full of some very special moments and has been en event we'll remember dearly. We'd like to thank Russ Swift and his stunt team, the whole of THA, the Asimo team and of course, Honda. Special thanks however, go out to Dan Rogers for his sterling work throughout and for being the glue that held it all together.

UF World's Comp: Winner
The winner of our recent competition for 2 x tickets to the Barclaycard World Freerun Championships, 1 x Sony Ericsson W760 handset and some exclusive UF merchandise is Andrew 'Zakreece' Reece. Congratulations.

Observer Newspaper
Click here for a link to a generic piece about Freerun that ran in the August the 3rd edition of the UK's Observer. Click here for a brief but positive piece in the same paper written by Olympian Jonathan Edwards, who spent time with one of our athletes, Cali, at London's Southbank. 

Sony Ericsson Brum: Off The Hook!
The second leg of Sony Ericsson's 'Off The Wall' tour has just ended and turned out to be an unprecedented success. Hosted at the Bullring in Birmingham city centre, the Freerun Zone attracted massive crowds throughout and hit a peak when we went head to head in a battle with local team; Street Dynamix. The battle proved to be a big hit and was all done in high spirits. So much so, that Kerbie (The MC for the entire tour) escaped the wrath of the rest of the UF team when he announced the winners to be Street Dynamix. In turn, the locals went completely nuts and everyone went away happy. Next stop Covent Garden, London on the 9th of August.

Observed
For a newspaper article he's writing, Olympic gold medalist and former world record holding triple jumper, Jonathan Edwards, has spent a day training at London's Southbank with UF team member, Cali. His efforts and thoughts about our discipline will be documented in this Sunday's (3rd of August) edition along with an interview.
 

Dreamscape
Our two week project at the British Motor Show with Honda, is drawing to an end and what a blast we've had! For the outdoor shows we've been blessed with great weather and really receptive audiences. Needless to say, Honda's 10,000,000 (GB Pounds) 'Asimo' humanoid has stolen the show every time! On the right is a pic of the team (minus Pip) with Asimo himself. Click on thumbnail for larger image.
 

Off The Wall: Birmingham
The next leg of our tour with Sony Ericsson takes us to Birmingham's Bullring on Saturday the 2nd of August. Anyone wanting to come along and jam on the day is more than welcome, providing they notify us prior to the event.
 

World's Update
Having just made an official media press release regarding the Barclaycard World Freerun Championships on the 3rd of September, we are delighted to confirm Sony Ericsson and Adidas as associate sponsors. With the event drawing nearer and all the athletes booked and ready to fly into London, everything is really starting to take shape.
 

Liverpool: Rocked And Locked!
We've just completed the first leg of the Sony Ericsson 'Off The Wall' tour to be staged in Liverpool and what a special event it was. Great obstacles, nice hip hop beats, big crowds and some sweet community skills on display. The whole thing lasted 6 hours and was relentless in terms of pace, but was all done with big smiles. Extra special thanks to Owen, Ryan and the whole B-Free crew for stepping up with positive mindsets and bags of energy. Next stop Birmingham on 2nd of August....

Positive Futures: Workshops
Starting on Tuesday the 29th of July, we'll be running free workshops in Sutton, UK, in association with Positive Futures. All totally free of charge and open to all. Email kerbie@urbanfreeflow.com for more info...
 

Countdown....
As the Barclaycard World Freerun Championships draw nearer, we're setting up this one off chance to bag 2 x VIP tickets to the groundbreaking event. We'll also throw in a Sony Ericsson W760 hand set (complete with exclusive embedded UF footage) and some never seen before UF tee's. To stand a chance of winning, simply post your name on our message board in this thread. We'll choose one winner on the 3rd of August. The comp is open to all regardless of location. *Travel to and from the venue is the responsibility of the winner.

Turkey Stepping Up
Introducing the first Turkish Freerun site to be set up. www.freerunningturkey.com
 

Honda Dreamscape: Update
This years British Motor Show at the ExCel is now well and truly in full flow. Up to 12,000 people a day are paying to see the half hour spectacle of stunt driving, with our team putting on a performance based around Honda's 'Jump' commercial. The costumes that Bam, Blue, Livewire, Pip, Spidey and Sticky are having to wear, are worth the entrance fee alone and we'll be posting pics on our Glyph Ting blog once things are less manic.

Sony Ericsson: Liverpool Reminder
Saturday the 26th of July will see us hitting Liverpool city centre with Sony Ericsson to kickstart their 'Off The Wall' campaign. On the day we'll be doing demo's on a purpose built structure consisting of vault boxes and scaffolding. As stated before, we are open to spotlighting others who want to come along but will need prior warning, as waiver forms will need to be prepared and signed on the day...

UF Parkour Park: Preview
The Urban Freeflow Parkour parks being built in association with Playworld Systems, (the same people behind the Woodward skate parks in the US) are now ready to roll and be installed throughout the UK. Here's a sneak preview of what's in store. Click thumbnail on right for bigger picture.

Blue Devil: Spotlight Hugger
This summer has been our busiest ever and with the Swatch, Honda, Sony Ericsson, Speedstick and Barclaycard (World Freerun Championships and The Mayor's Thames Festival) campaigns all dropping into place at once, exposure for us has gone through the roof. The one member of our team who's come out smelling of roses is Blue, who's managed to manoeuvre himself into pole position by fronting the Swatch print campaign (currently doing the rounds in all the UK newspapers). As an added bonus, he's just been awarded his own signature 'Off The Wall' tee-shirt designed and produced by Sony Ericsson. It shows him mid-kong and for those with a sharp eye, his busted pinky finger (which sticks out at a right angle) has been included. Pictured here on the right is Cali sporting the signature tee. Click on thumbnail for bigger image.

Workshops
August the 14th will see us taking a brief respite from our hectic summer schedule, to work with Charnwood Arts at Leicester College in the UK. Whilst there we'll be delivering a series of Parkour workshops....

The Mayor's Thames Festival
As stated further down the page, The Mayor's Thames Festival this year (sponsored by Barclaycard) is going to be an extra special one with UF performing on the centre stage right in front of the London eye. The bespoke obstacle design is close to being finished and it'll be the biggest and most ambitious ever seen in the history of Parkour/Freerun to date. Within the next 2 weeks we will be posting a 3D CAD animation showing exactly what's in store for anyone coming along....

Speedstick 247
Last year we were involved in a commercial shoot in the Czech Republic for Speedstick, which has just launched as a nationwide TV and print campaign in the US. It saw us joining forces with Andrew Walton and Goodfilms again, after having worked with them previously in Mexico for an SAP commercial. The Speedstick piece saw Asid, Bam and Sticky starring with choreography and stunt coordination by Ez.
Check www.speedstick247.com for more....

Tempest Spotlight
As the clock ticks away, preparations for the Barclaycard World Freerun Championships are in full effect. Over the next few weeks we'll be posting profiles here to shine spotlight on the athletes who'll be participating. As a quadruple hitter, Team Tempest get the first bit of attention. Click here

Financial Times
Recently the UK's Financial Times ran a piece about one of our athletes, Sticky, who staged an induction session for a reporter of theirs. The piece is now online and save for the ignorant opening comment about being taught to leap off tall buildings, it comes across ok. Click here

Sony Ericsson: W760 and C702 Launch
In conjunction with Sony Ericsson and The Carphone Warehouse, Urban Freeflow are about to launch the "Off The Wall" project, which will be a multi-channel marketing campaign linked to events highlighting Freerun. We'll be undertaking a city jam tour of Liverpool - 26th July, Birmingham - 2nd August, London - 9th August and Newcastle - 16th of August. In addition, we'll be involved with in-store promotions across more than 800 Carphone stores nationwide. The W760 handsets come with exclusive embedded Freerun content produced by UF Media, with Bam having directed/edited and Gingerbeats producing the soundbed. UF athletes featuring in this exciting project are Blue, Pip, Sticky, Kerbie, Livewire, Cali, Jashman and Neil.

For the city tour, this is an open call-out for practitioners in their respective areas to come along and be involved, where we'll have purpose built scaffolding and general obstacles in place to jam on. Anyone interested, should contact ez@urbanfreeflow.com so that formal invitations can be issued.

Canterbury: Festival Time
On Wednesday 16th of July we'll be sending our performance team to Canterbury High in the UK, to be involved in their annual multi-cultural festival. Whilst there we'll be performing demo's and hosting a series of Parkour/Freerun workshops. The event itself will also have a mobile skate park, a panna-ko cage, a bboy demo team and a selection of DJ's. Should prove to be great fun day for all in attendance....

Swatch: Chrono Plastic
The ad we shot recently in the Czech Republic with Swatch, has now gone live and is showing on TV throughout the World. Click here

World's Update
With the Barclaycard World Freerun Championships being announced recently, the Roundhouse are now selling tickets thick and fast. Our line up is close to being locked down and for all those who've been sending in emails requesting to be included, we are going to allow for a few wildcard entries but must stress that the only way to be considered is to fire over a showreel to ez@urbanfreeflow.com
Over the next few weeks we'll be running profile features on the competing athletes in the form of interviews, pics and vids. Until then, we'd like to shine some attention in the direction of Tempest who are based in Los Angeles and are the finest practitioners to come out of the US bar none. They'll be heading over as a 4 man unit (Diddy, Jaywalker and Showtime) to represent USA along with Dickie who'll be repping New Zealand. Their most recent work has been causing a real stir online and can be found here - I Freerun LA

Win Tickets For The World's
Sony Ericsson are currently running a competition on their new 'Off the wall' website where they're offering the chance to win VIP tickets to the Barclaycard World Freerun Championships on September the 3rd, along with 5 star hotel accommodation. www.sonyericsson.com/offthewall

Ford: A Few Photo's
In June UF veteran, Blue, was the star of a film project we undertook with Ford. While filming was in effect, his moves were shadowed by action sports photographer, Pete Webb, who has just uploaded a few photo's from the day. www.petewebb.com

Honda: Dreamscape
We've just begun rehearsals for Honda's Dreamscape production to be staged at the British Motor Show, where we'll be performing a choreographed sequence forty eight times over a two week period. The show itself is Honda's most ambitious yet in the UK and will see us joining forces again with Russ Swift's precision driving team, having worked with them previously at MPH in 2006. Together we'll be putting on an action packed display which will include a complete Honda product line. Asimo, their humanoid will be making a special appearance too. The shows begin on the 23rd of July and will run through to the 3rd of August. Visit www.britishmotorshow.co.uk to find out more.

The Mayor's Thames Festival
A little under 6 years ago, the UK Parkour/Freerun scene was born with just a handful of us regularly meeting to train in and around London 's Southbank. On September 13th and 14th it all goes full circle when Urban Freeflow will be a central attraction at The Mayor's Thames Festival, which has been described by the Evening Standard as “London’s biggest end-of-summer party”. We've been awarded the opportunity to perform on Jubilee Gardens (right in front of the London Eye) where a massive purpose built structure will be constructed for us to provide choreographed performances, jams, workshops and a UK tournament. The free to attend 2 day festival will stretch the length of the Thames from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge and with last year's event attracting in excess of three-quarters of a million people, this year's event promises to be something very special indeed. More info about the event can be found at www.thamesfestival.org