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K-SWISS Freerunning Tour

Sunday, 02 March 2008

UIC Chicago Tomorrow! Last stop... for now!

The Tribe will be going on a tour of the country to help promote Freerunning and the Ariake Shoes. We're very excited to be going around and meeting local traceurs and giving new people the chance to learn more about Parkour and Freerunning. Read more for pictures of the tour rig and a description of the tour!

University of San Francisco    March 6th ACED
University of Southern California (Los Angeles)    March 11th ACED
Southern Methodist University (Dallas)    March 19th - WE GOT THERE!
University of Houston    March 27th 10am to 4pm - Thank you Houston!
Florida International University (Miami)    March 31st MIAPK Rocks!
New York City - Times Square April 4th Great day of Jamming in NY!

University of Illinois at Chicago - Student Rec Center April 9th 10am to 4 pm

When K-SWISS asked if we'd like to do a tour, we jumped at the chance! Different members of the Tribe will be in each location (as many of us as we can!) for the tour. In some places we've been able to arrange to stay for an extra day or so to get to hang out with the locals! Mark Toorock designed a set. Tribe Members (Andy "Ando" Cousins, Billy "Skipper" Hughes, Brian "Doc Akh" Belida, Michael "Frosti" Zernow, Levi "SkyNative" Meeuwenberg, Paul "LeoNn" Mederos, Ryan "Demon" Ford, Tyson Cecka, and Will "Willgrind" Schultz. Amanda "Henhouse - Manduh - Mizuka" Henry will join us for a few of the dates. Jesse "Gear" Woody will stay and hold down the fort at Primal Fitness. Mark Toorock will MC most of the tour dates. K-SWISS will be demo'ing their Ariake shoes which you can try out - and if you do you get entered to win a training weekend at Primal Fitness! 3 winners will spend a weekend in the summer training at Primal in Washington, DC, with hotel and airfare paid! Last week Skipper and M2 checked out the tour rig before it was packed in the truck to drive to San Francisco.

On the train on the way to New York to see the rig, Skipper had a "Creamsicle" Drink which effing exploded everywhere! He stuck his finger in it to stop the fountain effect - which mean the had to leave his finger in there for about the next 1/2 hour or else the stuff would just come spewing out again. The train ride home was a trainwreck - as it was Skipper's 23rd bitrthday!

After M2 did the initial design, the company who built the rig made this rendering. the guys who built the rig are awesome, when we went to check it out everything was perfect! There were a few revisions fter this, but you can see the resemblance to the actual rig...

K-SWISS Freerunning Set

Skipper has a run on the rig. The obstacles are all painted with sand paint (just like the interior walls at Primal) for grip. The scaffolding is just regular scaffolding, but three towers are set at 6 and 8 feet apart and joined together with pipes to create some open spaces. the fronts are mesh printed with images of Sebastien Foucan - so no climbing up the fronts.

K-SWISS Freerunning Set

Skipper tops out on the middle tower - 18 feet up!

K-SWISS Freerunning Set

This obstacle is similar to the one M2 designed for the David Belle demonstration in New York - but bigger.

K-SWISS Freerunning Tour Truck

The whole rig breaks down and packs into this coolio trailer with huge graphics of Seb down the sides - some of these dates have been updated :)

K-SWISS Freerunning Set

Come check out the Ariake's and enter to win a pair - or a chance to win a trip to Primal Fitness for a kick-a$$ training session!

Oh yeah, a few weeks ago SkyNative, Frosti, Disciple and M2 were in Las Vegas filming a mini tutorial DVD which will be given away to anyone who tries on a pair of the shoes. Personally I think they should break in the "Try-Ons" for three days before letting people try them on, the Ariake's start off stiff and need a few days to conform to your feet - at which point most peopel fall in love.

Looking forward to meeting everyone we can! Thanks K-SWISS!

Users' Comments

Display 50 of 77 comments

1. 03-02-2008 06:28

Did you really have to put that picture of me with my finger in a creamsicle shake??

Lol, its gonna be a BLAST!

Skipper

2. 03-02-2008 07:43

Cant wait for th nyc tour, this is gonna be sickest thing ever. Are others allowed to use or just team members of apk?

H 666 K

3. 03-02-2008 07:46

There will be some limited use for others, no going on the high towers for insurance purposes!!

M2.

4. 03-02-2008 14:13

lol understandable, im def gonna drive down for the NYC one though

Tarantino4me

5. 03-02-2008 14:53

This sounds awesome...i wish i could be a part of it haha. The Ariakes are amazing cant wait to get another pair...and even more excited to hit up the NYC date...gunna be sick

-Nick-

Traceur21

6. 03-02-2008 15:23

Anybody know why they limited the Black Ariakes? Wanted another pair, but there not available anymore.

Mace

7. 03-02-2008 18:10

I'm taking the day off work for this.

~ Ryoga

RyogaVee

8. 03-03-2008 04:41

I just wish you were coming to Minneapolis / St. Paul :cry

jakkal

9. 03-03-2008 05:06

wow i wish you could come to Des Moines next time you go on tour.

parkourninja

10. 03-03-2008 11:27

Where exactly in S.F.? if i'm not mistaken the campus is spread all around the city.

Can't wait!

Rainbow

11. 03-03-2008 14:52

...actually USF is pretty much centered around Main Campus, which is right across Lone Mountain campus. I would imagine that's there where's enough space to build up the obstacles... or on the diamond.
Maybe it would be useful to point out exactly where to look at on this map...

SafeNSure

12. 03-03-2008 15:08

it would be if I knew!!

M2.

13. 03-03-2008 15:48

Ahhhh, look at the last picture. I bet you're going to get a bunch of people asking for their FREE pair of RUNNING shoes.

Justin1985

14. 03-03-2008 16:17

hahha, no hyphen needed

M2.

15. 03-03-2008 17:23

So is the one in Chicago going to be in the UofI Pavilion or is it going to be on the campus somewhere?

Santi

16. 03-04-2008 14:36

No Michigan tour! :sigh

Nem

17. 03-04-2008 16:41

we're trying to add Port Huron :P

M2.

18. 03-04-2008 17:50

Wow I'm already at Chicago. Seriously I'm camping out at U of I right now as I type this. Where are you guys?

hardkour

19. 03-04-2008 18:24

yeah can't wait for you all to get down to Miami, FL! its gonna be tight

EKKPyro

20. 03-05-2008 12:38

Houston is ready and waiting!

Iceucold

21. 03-05-2008 18:17

Sounds cool, go to Philly nex time

Streetrun

22. 03-05-2008 20:16

We had a layover in Philly on the way to san fran

But so far the first day of practice went AWESOME! we get a few minutes of choreography down solid, and are also looking forward to doing some mini tutorials for people and teaching them some stuff!

Skipper

23. 03-06-2008 08:08

I'm gonna try to be at the Dallas section.

crazymex

24. 03-06-2008 16:35

I want to try on the Ariake to see if they're amazing on my feet (my DC's are good, but there's always room for improvement), but what I really want to do is to see professionals in action!! A PK show would be totally amazing. I'm going to try and hit Chicago with some friends.

Pray I can get there April 9th!

deadlyMETAL

25. 03-06-2008 17:35

I should be able to make it out to the one in Miami and probably bring some other guys from our team here in Tampa. Only problem is that it's right after the UCF jam so we're all gonna be pretty tired. Oh, and I have a pair of Ariakes already and they definitely own.

payforaday

26. 03-06-2008 22:28

Sweeettttt, you guys are coming to USC. Do you by any chance know where it's going to be on campus? I'm guessing McCarthy Quad. I'm going to create a Facebook event and invite all my friends.

protokurios

27. 03-07-2008 05:12

San Fran WAS SO AWESOME!!!!!

Im so incredibly sore though. I cant wait for USC next week!!!

Skipper

28. 03-07-2008 15:51

on march 7th THEY BOTH MADE IT! NoSole and Skynative HUGE congratulations on winnning the american ninja challenge and good luck in japan!!!

XTatiC

29. 03-08-2008 07:43

Wrong thread?

Skipper

30. 03-08-2008 14:46

Do you guys know which cities, you're possibly going to be able to stay an extra day? I'm in Houston and we're trying to see if we should take the day off or not.

Iceucold

31. 03-10-2008 10:34

Where exactly at UH are you guys gonna be? I will definitely skip class to be there!

midnightwanderer

32. 03-10-2008 11:01

Hey guys, good luck in LA, wish I could be there with you!

-Amanda

Phytolith

33. 03-11-2008 05:20

Whats the latest update for Dallas? I heard the location has changed.

drunk_monkey797

34. 03-11-2008 07:16

anyone else think that this webcam is not gonna show anything?

Aladdin

35. 03-11-2008 16:13

Good job today at USC. I hope a lot of people seemed interested. I was the Korean guy in the gray SC shirt and shorts. The webcam was pointed in the wrong direction. If it was moved to the right a little, toward the fountain, people online would have been able to see it.

protokurios

36. 03-12-2008 05:24

To bad they couldnt come to Boston,although I just might make the trip to NYC like i did for Belle, although its time at NYC seems to conflict wit the editing stage of my parkour documentary...it would have been cool to show a little demo such as this.

Roots

37. 03-12-2008 09:11

updates on the day of NYC tour?

Tarantino4me

38. 03-13-2008 06:15

I need an answer ASAP! I am seeing two different dates for the tour and two different places for Dallas. Where is it at, and when will it be? I need to know, b/c I'm trying to plan a roadtrip that week to Houston. Anyone with information, please let me know.

drunk_monkey797

39. 03-13-2008 08:02

It says Southern Methodist Univ in Dallas on March 19th from 10 to 4. What else do you need to know?

Skipper

40. 03-13-2008 19:20

19th is right, truck is wrong

M2.

41. 03-14-2008 07:52

Are you sure that information is correct? B/c on another PK site, they say that it has been changed to the University of Texas at Dallas on the 20th...

drunk_monkey797

42. 03-14-2008 12:57

The 20th was the original tour date, it has since been changed to the 19th.

Iceucold

43. 03-14-2008 13:50

I'm pretty sure-- I'm going

M2.

44. 03-15-2008 07:51

lol, ok thanx... cuz i saw the 20th, and thought it was changed from the 19th.... not the other way around

and its still at Southern Methodist University, right?

drunk_monkey797

45. 03-18-2008 09:13

For anyone planning on coming to SMU tomorrow for this, I'd suggest not trying to park on campus. Here's how to get there:

Annotated Map of SMU Area

kd5bjo

46. 03-21-2008 19:04

There are 2 videos up on youTube from the tour so far, just search for: K-SWISS Freerunning Tour

Fishy

47. 03-22-2008 08:46

Where exactly will the event happen at UofH in Houston,main campus downtown campus where. I think I will be taking my son with me. Just need to know which campus.