There is a tribe in the city, more than one. They come out at night or during the day, indifferently; they are many, they involve friends of friends. They organize and launch events with extreme ease, events to have fun, meet. The followers of urban sports have long since stopped complaining about where they live, smog, things that are wrong. They have decided that training and the body always have the upper hand and, no doubt, they know how to take back the cities to live them, love them, improve them.
Night running: sweat, silence and night
Let's start with the more nocturnal urban sports. The appointment is not outside the gym. The appointment can be set anywhere. The path is not rigid, it is enough to have the flexibility to think of it according to one's physical abilities. Hood, shoes, calves, sweatshirts, bonnets, friends. And then just sweat and night .
When darkness falls, the city puts the sounds of daytime chaos under its skin, grinding its stride, removing one's thoughts or incorporating oneself properly .
Milan is already populating with Lombard riders of any age who have joined forces and formed the group of Marsh Runners who once a month, as their own manifesto declares, "try to infect the city with a concentration of sickly good intentions" . They give flowers, post-it, announcements of alien pedestrian crossings, colors, smiles to the police, courtesy to motorists. No one is competing with anyone, everyone runs at their own pace, nothing is paid .
If you live near Modena, you can instead find out about the initiative known as Run 5.30 which will take place on 10 June 2011 (registrations are open). After the Milan event of September 2010, the project is repeated in the Modena area and is organized by an effective triplet composed of husband and wife, Sergio Bezzanti and Sabrina Severi, an advertising man, she, biologist, and Corrado Borelli, entrepreneur in the field of ceramic industry and real estate development. The three, racing fans, are exporting the project to many Italian cities.
Other urban sports: street golf, critical mass and flash mob
Hip control is not rigid; you can forget about the diamond sweater: an 18 hole must be done right in your city, because baskets, joints and similar hollow urban spaces become special niches for golf balls. Don't believe it? Take a look at the official site of French street golf, created specifically to organize collective golf sessions ; not by chance, "Where do you want, when do you want" is the motto of the site, which is slowly expanding also in Italy.
The cyclists? How do they reclaim the city? But with Critical Mass, an international event held in over 400 cities around the world . Every last Friday of the month when cyclists spontaneously go in mass to travel the streets of their cities normally occupied by cars. Critical Mass focuses on the right to use roads in ways other than mere places for cars to circulate and pile up. It also focuses on the deterioration of the quality of life, starting from the levels of air pollution and noise pollution that motor vehicles create in cities.
Finally, the surprise effect . Put together the two English words flash, fast, fast and mob, crowd and get the method preferred by the urban tribe to promote everything, give space to any message, expose any philosophy of life, manifest the most varied intentions.
Some examples of Flash mobs : do you want to remind the world that it is better to make love and not war? A huge battle of pillows is organized in the main squares of Italy. Something to say against sex and parties that mix with politics? All themed clothes, with lots of lipstick and to reiterate that Italy is not a Republic founded on prostitution, as happened during the Flash mob at the Porta Nuova station in Turin on 26 January 2011 and as you can see in this video shot and edited by Valeria Cardi, with photos by Francesca Magistro .
If you want to decide to communicate something you believe in with your body and physical presence, you can find out how many and which events are planned throughout the Italian territory by consulting the Flashmob Italia group.
