The following video, in French with subtitles (if you click the "CC" button below the video window), shows a race on a military obstacle course (le parcours du combattant) between Clément Dumais, a civilian and professional parkourist, and Major Gérald (no other name given), the "officier du sport" of the First Foreign Legion regiment of the French Foreign Legion. The major looks to be significantly older, but he knows the obstacle course intimately, whereas Dumais has only just arrived and, as far as I can tell, is given no opportunity to feel the course out before competing. The competition is nevertheless pretty gripping to watch (with Dumais, at one point, veering accidentally off the course before the major sportingly calls him back on course). I was impressed by both men's athleticism, as well as by the respectful sportsmanship that both displayed when the race was done. Enjoy.
ADDENDUM: upon rewatching the video, I saw that there are a couple clips of Clément getting the tour of each individual obstacle, so while he didn't have the chance to do a practice run, he did have the chance to take the field in, enabling him to anticipate each challenge. If these gents ever decide to have a rematch, they should aim to do it on neutral ground: a 500-meter course that contains 50% military-style obstacles and 50% free-running-style obstacles, with neither contestant being allowed to see the course before he runs it.
French Foreign Legion! Those guys are supposed to be pretty badass.
ReplyDeleteClément looks winded by the end there. Good effort, though.
And I really need to work on my French. It's embarrassing.
If you want to flex your French muscles, you can do this exercise suggested to me by a long-ago coworker: try transcribing the first minute of dialogue from the video. Pause, rewind, and re-listen as often as you like to get it right. Just don't click on the French-caption option (if there is one; I know some videos have it).
ReplyDeleteI'd do the same to improve my poor Korean skills, but I know how laughably bad my listening comprehension is.