The next thing to do was to arrange for the line-up. With the internet being central to the whole Freerun movement, everybody knows each other anyway, so finding the right representatives was very easy. Coupled with the fact that we’d already met most of the athletes at the Art of Motion event in Austria a year previously, it was all full steam ahead. In total we had 23 athletes present representing 18 different countries. From our perspective, we already knew that none of these athletes would have been involved in anything with such high production values before, so we wanted to make the whole journey as much fun as possible without them feeling as though they were being led into the lion’s den. You have to realise that they’d only seen pics of the venue prior to flying in and having visuals in your head is all well and good, but when walking in with 2000 screaming spectators, TV cameras everywhere, lights and loud music, it would be enough to loosen anyone’s bowels.
So……we made a point of hiring a hostel in London called the Clink. This would force everyone to stay in dormitories and be amongst each other 24/7 for the duration of their stay. The idea was that we wanted everyone together to become friends and then travel to the Roundhouse on the night, where they’d tackle it all as one big force. We’re pleased to say that it definitely worked because one thing all of the athletes have commented on since the event has finished, is the brotherhood feeling that was in effect throughout.
Above from left to right we see: Billy ‘Skipper’ Hughes (USA), Marwan ‘Majora’ Elgamal (Egypt), Jorge ‘Sarge’ Romero (Mexico), Franck ‘Cali’ Nelle (France), Andrejs ‘Djuxa’ Turanovs (LAtvia), Paul ‘Diddy’ Darnell (USA), JoaoFlavio Baeta (Brazil), Gary ‘Airborne’ Whelan (Ireland) and Emile ‘Specs’ Sievers (South Africa).
