Parkour In PG?

May 15, 2018 | 10:32 AM

PRINCE GEORGE – It’s one man’s quest to bring something new to the city. Riley Banzer will hold his first parkour lessons today, with eight young students.
The sport of parkour deriver from military obstacle courses and Banzer says he, literally, fell into it.

“I was at summer camp and we were playing tag and I really didn’t want to get caught so I jumped out of a third storey window and hit the ground and did a parkour roll without even thinking,” he says. “I just came naturally.”

The goal of putting on the courses is to raise awareness of the sport and to create enough interest to secure money to create an all-season facility.

“We have a couple of funding sources in Prince George but they don’t believe there’s enough of a following here or enough of a market for it. So I figured if I can show them there is, then come Fall when we can’t be outside doing parkour, hopefully, I’ll have a facility ready to go  for winter classes.”

“I like it because it’s fun,” says student Brayden Cruz, 11. He has a very pragmatic view of the sport. “And it has an easier way of getting around things instead of taking the long way.”

“I would love to get something like they have in Vancouver. There’s only one down south and Alberta has a few. I would love to get this facility as big as possible,” says Banzer. “There’s one spot I have, it’s 3,500 square feet. If I could get a minimum of that or bigger.”