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GRAND PRIX FEVER MAKES BAHRAIN JUMP!
Words and pictures, courtesy of Bahrain GP.com
Click logo left for more Bahrain
F1 GP information |
The
Parkour ‘free-runners’ from Jump Bahrain have
turned the 2006 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on its head
today as part of their three-day marathon around the
Kingdom.
One
of the real high points of the Yalla Bahrain! calendar
of cultural, sporting and community events supporting
this weekend’s Grand Prix, Jump Bahrain has kept
everyone entertained away from the high octane action
on the track.
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| Daniel
Ilabaca, Chase Armitage and Jerome Ben Aoues |
On
Friday the three Jump Bahrain performers – Daniel
Ilabaca, Chase Armitage and Jerome Ben Aoues –
went to work around the capital city Manama, crossing
the ancient Bahrain Fort, glittering Al Ali Mall and
Seef Mall and also the historic former government offices
of the Bab al Bahrain.
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NEW
VIDEO BY CHASE ARMITAGE
All the PK action from the Bahrain
GP including meeting up with Jamiroquai
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Parkour,
the ‘art of displacement’ means crossing urban
landscapes in the most spectacular and least conventional
ways possible relying on nothing more than the agility
and bravery of the ‘free-runners’ as they
leap from rooftops and flip over obstacles.
Possibly the most unconventional means of getting into
the hallowed ground of the Formula One paddock was achieved
when Daniel and Chase burst through the electronic gates
in an astonishing series of flips and rolls as seen
on Madonna’s recent smash hit video ‘Hung
Up’.
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Daniel
then proceeded to scale the wall of Bernie Ecclestone’s
Paddock Building and hang upside down by his fingertips.
Never someone lost for words, the 75-year-old Formula
One supremo took it all in his stride as 18-year-old Daniel
and 20-year-old Chase flipped and twisted through the
paddock. “Stop jumping around boys,” Bernie
said with a smile before hopping gamely towards one of
the banisters that had just been vaulted. “Better
not,” he decided. “I’ll only show them
up.”
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Onwards
through the paddock, no team was left without its own
Parkour experience – from the bemused McLaren-Mercedes
mechanics who found the team doing handstands on its
stacks of tyres to Super Aguri driver Takuma Sato who
became a human hurdle.
The Ferrari building was the scene of another dizzying
rooftop handstand and leap as the team celebrated its
monopoly on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s
race.
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Tomorrow’s
grand finale of Jump Bahrain is timed to form part
of the pre-race festivities that will be broadcast
live to well over 400 million viewers eager to see
the new season get underway in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
That includes the enormous new audience tuning in
to Al Jazeera Sports across the Middle East and
North Africa, who will see the daring show. |
Chase
Armitage said: “It’s been a phenomenal few
days for us. It’s a beautiful country to visit
and we’ve really been honoured with the locations
that have been opened up for us to jump. It’s going
to be our thank-you to really crank it up tomorrow and
show the Main Grandstand some real Parkour action.”
High above the grid, as the cars sit in readiness for
the 2006 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, the three freerunners
have planned dramatic progress towards their ‘seats’
on the topmost rafters of the grandstand with the eyes
of the world upon them on TV. Over 100 feet up, with
no harnesses or safety nets, they will deservedly take
the applause and settle down to enjoy the action.
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