By CHRISTINE CHEAH

alltherage@thestar.com.my

A FEW years ago, parkour was nothing but a serious hobby for buddies Abudi Alsagoff, Mohd Amirul Asyraf Zulkifli and Mudabbir Ahmad Ilyas. They hopped over railings like Donkey Kong, jumped over concrete walls like the Mario Brothers and flipped across the playground like carefree teenagers.

But when the parkour (also known as freerunning) craze took off in Malaysia recently, these boys quickly became the big runners in the game and because of all the time they had already spent honing their skills, they are almost perfect in the scene – if not already.

They eventually formed a parkour group, the Alpha Movements, in 2012 and now the pioneers have turned professional, often showcasing their expertise in roadshows as well as television commercials for multi-national companies.

The boys also performed at the CZ12 movie premiere attended by none other than the legendary stuntman-turned-actor Jackie Chan.

“We were very lucky to have performed for Jackie Chan and he said that we were really good,” said Abudi, 22, the Alpha Movements executive director.

He added that the international superstar had nothing but praises for them and even encouraged them to pursue their passion – which they did, leading to more opportunities locally and abroad. Recently, the boys were scouted by Pakistani and Indian television companies to do commercials for them.

But of course, success didn’t come easily for them. They worked hard at what they love to do, although some may say that their passion to dangerously jump from one spot to another invites nothing but trouble.

Now, is it dangerous to do parkour? Well, not to Abudi and his team of parkour professionals who have never had any major injuries while performing stunts for the last six years.

As a matter of fact, they claim that parkour has brought more benefits for them, especially when it comes to their health.

“It is an urban sport that helps to increase your stamina and physical endurance,” said Amirul, 20, who started parkour when he was residing in Milan, Italy, in 2009.

Amirul, 20

Nurul Yasmin Afrina said that parkour has helped her to lose weight and maintain a good figure.

“I lost 8kg after I started freerunning,” said Yasmin, 16. “I run to build my stamina and (do some) workouts just to be able to perform (certain) stunts.”

Not only do these parkour enthusiasts claim that the sport brings lots of benefits to them health-wise, they also say that it helps them relationship-wise.

“We usually train together which is good because it promotes healthy competition and it’s fun,” said Amirul, who sees a prospective career in the horizon, thanks to parkour.

“With (my friends’) help, I was able to do things I thought I couldn’t do and hopefully, I’ll be able to travel the world with parkour as my career.”