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An American Parkour Pioneer

Mark Toorock was a self-described 'spaz' when he was growing up. But the D.C. resident has since learned to transform his energy into a passion for practicing and teaching Parkour.

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TRIBE MEMBER BILLY HUGHES, a student at American University who has been practicing parkour for two years, is the organizer behind the (B)east Coast Jam, an exhibition intended to attract parkour practitioners from around the country for a three-day weekend of running wild in the streets of the Washington area. More than 60 people show up; many of them sleeping on the gym floor at Primal Fitness during their stay.

"At this jam, we have people who are martial artists, rock climbers, gymnasts, skateboarders, even ballet dancers," he says. Their coming together "creates a chance to expand the possibilities for parkour for everybody."

As the traceurs "jam" around the Silver Spring Metro station, a Metro police officer accustomed to shutting down skateboard sessions comes out to break up the scene. But he ends up watching, intrigued, as the entire group progresses in a single-file tightrope-walking formation along a railing under the Colesville Road Metro bridge, then proceeds to launch flying "kong" leaps over the station's covered bicycle racks, running and diving over the obstacles, with traceurs using their arms to finish the movement the way a giant gorilla on the run might maneuver through a movie set. Eager to avoid a confrontation, and used to run-ins with police and security guards, Hughes moves into PR mode, describing parkour and the movements the man is witnessing. Once the officer has established that the traceurs aren't damaging or defacing anything or getting themselves killed, he decides the jam isn't worth breaking up and calls several colleagues over to check it out. The point is moot: Traceurs never stay in one spot for long, and the giant posse of people running, climbing and bouncing off the Metro station walls quickly makes its away along.

"It's like skateboarding without skateboards," says the officer. "It's pretty crazy, but at least they aren't messing anything up."

TRIBE MEMBERS STAR IN TOOROCK'S "PARKOUR TUTORIAL" DVDS that he sells online and at the gym, and Toorock has helped to place Ann Arbor, Mich.-based freerunner Levi Meeuwenberg in a K-Swiss commercial; snagged a stunt gig for Primal Fitness training assistant Will Schultz in the Will Smith movie "I Am Legend"; and helped score the "Survivor" role for Zernow. Meeuwenberg and Zernow also appeared as stunt doubles in the pilot episode of "Chuck" on NBC.

Last spring, K-Swiss invited Toorock and members of the Tribe to collaborate on the design of the Ariake, a parkour and free-running sneaker now on the market. The Tribe members dutifully reported that their shoes, the only real gear worn in parkour, were taking a real beating in the midst of all that activity and abuse. As a result of that input, the Ariake features a durable, new high-grip rubber sole first developed for rock climbing, as well as extra padding to support landing impacts. K-Swiss has become a sponsor of both the Tribe and the Primal Fitness gym and has featured Meeuwenberg, Zernow and Seattle-based traceur Tyson Cecka in two television spots with tennis player Anna Kournikova.

"I think it's inevitable that some of the sneaker companies are going to try to get a piece of the action with parkour and freerunning," says Toorock. "I'll admit I was wary. Obviously, they want to sell shoes. But they also came to me and said, 'We want to support what you're doing and help you grow this sport in the way that you think it should grow, and if we do it right, we'll all benefit.' If they want to work with people like me, the Tribe and S¿bastien Foucan -- not to change us but to enable us to do more -- then I'm happy to have some extra money, and I'm happy to be doing it while wearing their shoes."

David Nichols, executive vice president of K-Swiss and the son of the company's CEO, agrees that there is enormous potential in parkour as the workout regimen of the future.

"Mark is really focused on the training aspect of parkour, and one of the first things he said to me was, 'It's not just about tying on a pair of shoes and going out and doing it,'" says Nichols. "We were really drawn in by the beauty of it, the artistic layer and the expression that it brings. But it's also obviously a really great way to get in shape."

PAUL MEDEROS, A STUDENT AT VIRGINIA TECH, grew up in Northern Virginia and has made a name for himself as one of the most promising members of the Tribe. Thin, wiry, acrobatic, spring-loaded and full of thoughtful Zen-like pronouncements about parkour, Mederos provides a counterpoint to Toorock and the other Tribe traceurs. Where the others are concerned with speed, power and agility, Mederos speaks only of "flow" and the Buddhist notion that, with intense practice and meditation, he might make himself move more like water.

"It turns out that the most natural and graceful way of doing something is also usually the best and most efficient way to do it," says Mederos.

Mederos's overall affect is one of effortlessness. Using training in dance and martial arts, he quickly and quietly flips, rolls and flows under, over and around obstacles.