By Tom Dare
THE TERRIFYING moment that one of the world’s top freerunners almost fell victim to a huge Saint Bernard dog during a stunt has been captured.
The video, a first-person film featuring the death-defying stunts of parkour runner Pedro Salgado, shows the runner jumping from building to building and landing seemingly impossible jumps as he makes his way across the rooftops of Hyderabad in India.
However there were no plans for the appearance of the huge dog, and founder and co-owner of the company Omar Elahi says that Pedro’s scramble to get away from the canine was truly terrifying.
“That dog-attack at the end was 100 per cent real,” he says.
“During the shooting of this video, where we wanted to show the smiling faces and the inner-city dwellings, on his last run, the Saint Bernard broke free and chased Pedro.
“He had to jump the distance between the two buildings just to get away from the dog.
“The acceleration he had was incredible. I mean, the guy can jump, but from one building to another across a street?”
“Pedro said it was some of the craziest Parkour he’s ever done.”
The Peter Parkour brand was founded in 2010 by Omar, who now co-owns the group with the two parkour runners who make the videos, Pedro and friend Antonio Mojonero.
Their aim is to promote parkour to the public, and they seem to be getting their already, with over 330,000 followers on Facebook alone.
So what is it about parkour that is so appealing?
“The freedom. The adrenaline. The fitness. The release from monotony and boredom when it comes to exercise. There are no bars, no boxes, no rules,” Omar says.
“And the support we get is great. We’ve been contacted by so many people from around the world telling us they love what we are doing.
“The only negative reaction we sometimes get is from people who have an opinion on the subject matter, or say that it’s fake.
“Yeah buddy, none of this is fake. We’re not Marvel.”
So far, the group has over 100 videos up on its Facebook page, ranging from staging a theft on the streets of Lisbon to exploring an ancient Indian temple.
“We just got done shooting a 90-day programme on how to do parkour,” says Omar.
“It’s taught by Pedro himself, and covers every level from beginner to advanced.
“The other projects are a secret, though. We like our friends and supporters to be pleasantly surprised.”
To see more Peter Parkour videos, visit: https://www.facebook.com/pg/whoispeterparkour/videos/?ref=page_internal
