Ryan Ford
@ryanford.eth
Why we're raising $100k for Apex Speed Run through @juicebox 📈 Since 2004, we’ve lived and breathed parkour—training, competing, and coaching dozens of champions in parkour-based sports. This gave us a front-row seat to a recurring cycle: raw disciplines getting packaged, polished, and pulled away from their roots.
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Ryan Ford
@ryanford.eth
In 2010, Ninja Warrior emerged as a perfect application of our parkour skills. Our Apex athletes crushed it for a few years, but then the cracks began to show: a shift from pure talent to TV-friendly spectacle, obstacles more fantastical than functional, fairness exchanged for flash. As a community, we gradually stepped away as it strayed from what originally drew us in.
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Ryan Ford
@ryanford.eth
Meanwhile, parkour competitions were picking up steam in the late 2010s, and Apex athletes excelled once again. Competitions by parkour gyms and the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) were growing and competing on a similar timeline. Both leaned into purpose-built courses, invites, qualifications, and fees.
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Ryan Ford
@ryanford.eth
Gym competitions, hosted by parkour brands, tried to keep things closer to parkour values, but FIG? A shameless, full-fledged gymnastics takeover—outdoor, sure, but purpose-built and a cultural mismatch all the same. Not only were we there from the start, but Apex was the first to publicly denounce and withdraw from FIG events.
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