Do New Yorkers have the best balance? We say yes.
New Yorkers are the kings and queens of balance. We balance crazy jobs and passion projects, side hustles and never ending adventures and now it's our chance to show it off to the rest of the world.
Every year, OutdoorFest teams up with the awesome local slacklining community to host free and low cost slackline clinics for *all levels** to share our love of the sport with NYC. (Read: Slacklining: Why is it So Awesome?.)
This year, we're working with slackline maker Gibbon to host the NYC edition of the Global Balance Challenge. Each city (everywhere from Tokyo to Munich!) is challenged to get as many people as possible to balance for 10 seconds on a slackline.
And on June 12th, all New Yorkers are invited to join us to compete and WIN.
A little bit of history:
Slacklining began as a side activity for climbers at base camps when the weather was too poor to climb. It began in earnest in Yosemite Valley in the early 70s and was known to be very technical and inaccessible to the general public.
As time wore on, and the sport gained larger acceptance it began popping up everywhere from local parks to the 2012 Superbowl Half Time Show. These days, you'll see slackliners setting up in parks around the world and in NYC, at the Riverside Rings on the Upper West Side (note: in NYC you cannot tie anything to trees!)
Practicing on The Slackrack, a 10ft long and 30cm high, free standing slackline structure
To help breakdown the perception that slacklining is perceived as an activity for gifted people, GIBBON has launched The Global City Balance Challenge, an initiative with as simple plan: To prove that balance can be achieved by anyone! “It´s pretty much like learning to ride a bike" and there's even a free app to help you learn.
Come by on June 12th and help us show the world how well balanced we are here in NYC!