|
|
They say thrill-seekers enjoy living life on the edge, and one extreme sportsman has taken the phrase literally by performing death-defying handstands all over the world
Daredevil Scott Young, 25, from Baskingstoke, Hants., has travelled as far afield as India and China, and has even completed one handstand on top of a 40-storey skyscraper.
Scott climbs to the edge of the building's roofs and performs a handstand without any safety ropes - and films the vertigo-inducing views on a camera built into his shoe.
Scroll down for video
Extreme sportsman Scott Young, 25, from Basingstoke, performs handstands in crazy places all over the world including on the top of this building in Shanghai, China
Scott performs the stomach-churning feats with no safety equipment and films his exploits using a camera mounted into his shoe
Scott, pictured here in Greece, is a professional freerunner - meaning he performs stunts in urban environments such as climbing tall buildings and jumping between rooftops
3RUN, the team to which Scott belongs, provides performers for films and, between the performers, holds five Guinness World Records
He said: 'When you do a handstand, you have to focus on the ground in front of you to keep your balance. If it's only a few feet away that's fine, but I look right down to the bottom of the building - it's so far I just have to block it out of my mind.
'It's more of a mental thing than anything else - you've just got to focus your mind on what you're doing, not what might happen.'
Professional freerunner Scott, part of the 3RUN team of acrobats, has so far performed his 'Handstands in High Places' in three countries.
Scott, of Basingstoke, Hants., first filmed himself last month doing a handstand on the edge of a 20-storey derelict building in Delhi, India.
He said: 'We were in India filming and I just thought 'why not?' It was scary but I'm very confident with my body and what I can do.'
Scott says the trick to performing a handstand is to focus on the ground beneath you. Here he is pictured on top of a wire fence barely the width of his thumb in his hometown of Basingstoke
Scott first filmed himself completing a handstand on top of this abandoned building on the edge of a housing estate in Delhi, India
Scott's stunts are so risky he says that even his team have begged him not to risk his life before, but he can't get enough of the rush that comes with doing them
An expert in the art of freerunning, Scott has been practising the sport since he was 15 and says the key to success is mental focus
The ultra-strong athlete has also filmed himself on a car park roof in his home town - balancing on a fence only a couple of inches wide.
He said: 'This was more of a technical challenge, because the flat top of the fence was only as wide as my thumb.
'Plus, if I'd fallen off the side, I would have probably died and my mum would have killed me because of the scandal it would cause.'
He has also balanced precariously on the top of a 40-storey skyscraper in Shanghai, China - 480ft up. Scott said: 'Even my teammates wanted me to put on a harness, but I knew I'd be able to do without.'
Scott's mum Samantha Young is so terrified by her son's stunts that she refuses to watch them. He added: 'She got a bit annoyed when I showed her the first video, so I've stopped telling her about them now.'
Scott posts videos of his exploits on the internet, but says that his mother refuses to watch them because she is so worried he will hurt himself. Here he is pictured in Greece
Scott, who has incredible strength and skill, has been employed doing stunts on film sets including The Incredible Spiderman
Scott says that he has torn muscles and ligaments and has even broken his ankle at a film premier after landing half on and half off a crash mat
Scott has been practising the urban sport of freerunning since he was 15 and has starred in films such as The Amazing Spiderman.
He said: 'I've had a few injuries in my time. I've torn ligaments and things in my shoulder, but they're usually just repetitive injuries rather than from bad falls.
'The worst I've done is snap my ankle at a film premier when I landed half on the crash mat. The irony is that if I'd landed smack bang on the concrete I would have just rolled it off and been fine.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2580960/Hes-got-world-hands-Daredevil-Briton-travels-globe-carry-extreme-handstands.html#ixzz2w1Zy4Ml9
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook