OVER 60 children were given a taste of the Parkour phenomenon through three workshops held at Peebles High School Sports Centre.

The growing urban sport of Parkour involves physical movement including running, jumping, and swinging using the built environment as an outdoor gym.

The sessions on May 23, organised by Borders Sport and Leisure and hosted by Parkour coach John Hall, used specially constructed scaffolding and a variety of games and challenges to teach some of the basic movements of the sport including safe landing skills, swinging and vaulting.

Ewan Jackson, Chief Executive of Borders Sport and Leisure, said: “We hosted these Parkour sessions to give youngsters in Peebles the opportunity to try a completely different type of fun physical activity.

“We are constantly looking at innovative ways to encourage people to get more active and these sessions were exceptionally popular with the children. Parkour is a different approach to activity. It is non-competitive and works to improve movement, mobility and strength in a fun and yet demanding way.” John Hall, Access Parkour Coach, added: “The response from all of the children was fantastic. They were keen, motivated and had lots of fun. We really enjoyed seeing them taking to Parkour so easily.” The students learned about safe landing skills while playing various games and were also introduced to the custom built scaffolding set and played various games and challenges, learning to move through complex environments, swinging and vaulting over the railings.

Hanisa Santimano, a parent of one of the teenage participants, said: “It is good to have something different and something new in Peebles, particularly for teenagers. They know about Parkour via computer games so it is great that they can try it here.”