Vancouver Park Board considers setting up parkour facilities

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Vancouver Park Board Commissioner Sarah Blythe wants to put the “park” in parkour.

“I’m not a parkour expert but a lot of youth have come to me talking about it,” she tells News1130.

“I’ve gone to Origin, which is a gym on Main Street, and I’ve watched and it’s jumping and running up walls and jumping from building to building. It’s really exciting for young people and it’s something kids like doing.”

Origin opened the first indoor parkour facility in the city last year and now Blythe thinks its time to provide some outdoor facilities as well.

She got the idea from her 10-year-old son.

“He’s not a big fan of other sports but he loved jumping and learning to run up walls,” she says. “I thought it was interesting because he doesn’t need any gear to do it.”

The fact that parents don’t have to buy expensive equipment is part of parkour’s appeal. Blythe says setting infrastructure in the city would also be relatively cheap.

“I was thinking we could just add parkour to the list of options that we propose when we’re developing new parks,” she says. “We could add it to the different options that we bring, whether it be a skate park, climbing wall or BMX park. If we add parkour to the list, this would give youth another option to choose from.”

Plans for the city’s first outdoor parkour facility are in the works. A project in the Hastings Park area is expected to open next year.