‘Jump without thinking’: The parkour runners reclaiming Algiers

A growing community in Algeria’s capital is taking up the daring urban sport, and forming strong bonds in the process.

Bab Ezzouar, Algiers – There are two steps to preparing to jump from the roof of one building to another. Step one: Measure the distance and practice landing on solid ground. Step two: Rehearse running up to the edge.

Bilal Ahmedali is training with two friends and fellow parkour athletes on the roof of an abandoned mall in the Bab Ezzouar neighbourhood of Algiers. The shopping complex’s west wing bends like a horseshoe with a five-metre gap between its ends, and a nine-metre drop to the red-tiled courtyard below.

Months earlier, while training on the same rooftop in a larger group, Ahmedali had run up to the edge but hadn’t been able to take the leap. “I knew I could jump that – I was just scared. I went to the edge 20 times trying to do it, but I couldn’t.”

On this September evening, without much deliberation, he decided to attempt it again – and this time he made it. “I went, saw it once, came back. Saw the gap twice, came back. The third time, I directly ran and boom, I jumped it.”

In a video uploaded to Facebook, Ahmedali can be seen hurtling through the air in a graceful arc before planting both feet neatly on the parapet opposite.