Kee Klamp obstacle course for World Chase Tag championships
We are continuously stating that you can build anything with Kee Klamp fittings and tube, and that you are limited only by imagination Today we show you how the brains behind World Chase Tag, the newest sports craze, have included galvanised tube clamps into their ever-changing obstacle courses.
What is World Chase Tag?
It has been played by kids across the globe for longer than anyone can care to remember, but now the popular childhood game of tag is being recreated in the 21st century.
Brothers Christian and Damien Devaux are the people responsible for World Chase Tag, an extreme version of the game where competitors take on each other in a game of cat and mouse in an enclosure filled with parkour-like obstacles.
The sport has already seen two championships held, with many more to likely to come, and with the help of Simplified Building and Kee Klamp fittings, the brothers are now getting ready for the game to take centre stage.
How did it all start?
Christian Devaux, who first had the idea to create the sport, said:
"The idea came about around six years ago. My son was quite active but he didn’t really enjoy sports like football or rugby. However, he really enjoyed playing Tag. We played it together and it got more and more competitive, so we started devising a timing system, and set up obstacles which became increasingly complex."
Christian stated that at the time he was between jobs in the hotel industry, and had used his spare time to take the idea to a patent lawyer, to see if it was possible to bring it to the wider masses.
He said that although it would be possible to patent it, tag doesn’t really belong to anybody in particular seeing as everybody plays it. For this reason it would only be effective if it was applied to a sport.
"I took the idea to a parkour gym, Chainstore in Poplar, London, and got some guys together".
A DIY Kee Klamp obstacle course
To construct the obstacle course, the brothers ordered some steel fittings with the idea of using them for their 12x12m courts.
Damien Devaux said the atmosphere is a massive part of the sport, and by using Kee Klamp's versatility, they are able to build courses and multiple obstacles which are both hugely functional and also look amazing.
"We can use anything up to 40 fittings on one obstacle, and on average we have about 15 obstacles per course. The modular nature of Kee Klamp makes it really easy to put courts together and take them down, which is important as we don’t always have a lot of time to set up before competitions."
The modular nature of Kee Klamp makes it really easy to put courts together and take them down, which is important as we don’t always have a lot of time to set up before competitions.
Damien said Kee Klamp has given the courses the flexibility that no other scaffold system can provide. He said:
"Using Kee Klamp, when the day of the competition comes, we can just build those sections and slot them together like a puzzle. We wouldn’t have the same kind of flexibility with regular scaffolding or welded alternatives".
This flexibility was very useful in the early days of the sport when the two brothers were still deciding how to build courts which would provide the greatest, and most action packed, Chase Tag experience.
Damien said:
"When we first started building courts, we realised the chases were too short, and we had to increase what we call the ‘Evasion Quality’, meaning we wanted there to be more evasions, or escapes, and therefore more points. We were able to easily modify and change the course designs to increase the length of matches and the number of evasions. Using Kee Klamp makes it just like building something with K’Nex."
Using Kee Klamp makes it just like building something with K’Nex.
Taking over the world
Since holding their first competition in London last December, the two brothers have had no less than 75 million views of their videos across various social channels, and the sport has been popular with popular channels UniLad and LadBible in the UK; in the USA it was also featured on many networks which included ESPN, NBC, TMZ and Fox Sports.
The second World Chase Tag competition took part in July of this year, at York Hall in Bethnal Green. The siblings say they currently have their sights set on America, with an exciting eight week long East Coast v West Coast competition in the works.
We’re always asking ourselves the question 'can we keep people entertained'?
Damien said:
"A lot of sports really don’t make the most of the atmosphere, in terms of the lights and music, so that’s something we strived to make front and centre."
They also said that the atmosphere of the sport is inspired by the UFC, which is well known for its showmanship and energy, and the popular Indian sport Kabaddi.
"I have a music background and in fact Christian and I used to perform together. I was all about the music but Christian was fantastic at putting together a show, and we wanted to bring that into WCT. We’re always asking ourselves the question 'can we keep people entertained'?"
Simplified and the Devaux brothers are looking ahead to a long, fruitful partnership, with the former seeking to become a sponsor and a firm fixture of future WCT events.
