The discipline of Parkour, known in English as 'the art of displacement', was born primarily out of frustration when other activities just wouldn't do.


It involves the act of getting from one point to another in the quickest possible time, regardless of what might stand in one's way.

But while Parkour and close cousin Free Running emerged as an underground activity, many were quick to pounce and keep it that way.

"People always have pre-conceptions of what it is we do. They see people gathered together, doing something different and they immediately think we're hoods or something."

Killian, a 20 year old Media Arts student, is anything but a 'hood'. He, along with friends, got involved in the practice of Parkour long before they had even heard of the title.

"It was really just through Bebo that I got started. I was always interested in back flips and those kind of moves and I had them on a video on Bebo when somebody left a comment saying 'nice work'.

"From there we got talking and that's how I got started. It wasn't somebody local but someone from England which shows how wide reaching and friendly Parkour can be.

"My friends and I had always been into skating and other extreme sports so they eventually got involved and it just kicked off from there.

"We became known as Urban Chaos but that was a few years ago. Now it's just me and my friend Paul Allen."

Paul along with Killian's brother and two others will join Killian on his French excursion at the beginning of July.

"I entered a video into a Nokia competition through the Urban Freeflow competition," says Killian.

"I thought nothing of and called back onto the site about a month later only to see my name fourth out of five in a worldwide competition. So I got all my friends to start voting - as you do.

"Every week I started to gradually work my way up the list and for two weeks we battled with someone else for top spot with the percentages constantly switching.

"My video ended up winning it with 62% of the vote against the other guy who was from Latvia. I didn't even think it was the best of my videos but I still made it and it won."

Being a Media student Killian doesn't just have love for the art of Parkour but also for filmmaking and has produced multiple videos of his work.

"People complain that i make too many videos sometimes and upload them to the Parkour Ireland website but I have such a love for it i would make 3 a day if I had the time."

Being a fervent Traceur (a male practitioner of Parkour), Killian is keen to point out the common misconceptions that people have of his interest.

"It's very much a cross community thing, particularly with website Parkour Ireland which allows us all to keep in touch and arrange various events right across the country.

"It's a great way of bringing people together," he added.


Follow the links below to see Killian in action:


Bare Foot Garden Training:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9EA5O1NU68

Competition Winning Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP0ZqFnwQgg

Ballyronan Marina Parkour Training:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRgA8tt7K3c

Parkour Movement (Over, Under,Through):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS7_14kfzbg