Two weeks ago, on a cool and cloudy Northwest fall day, 19-year-old islander Nate Weston was helping his father pick apples for the island’s annual CiderFest celebration. The following week, he was in the Mediterannean sunshine with 17 of the world’s best free runners and parkour practicers (called traceurs), running, jumping, flipping and spinning over the iconic white domes of Oia in Santorini, Greece.

Called the Red Bull Art of Motion (AOM), the invitational competition is in its sixth year and invites the world’s best traceurs and free runners to compete in front of thousands of spectators.

Parkour is the sport of moving quickly through an area, typically in an urban environment, negotiating obstacles by running, jumping and climbing. Meanwhile, free running, while similar to parkour, includes acrobatic moves that are purely for aesthetics, not to negotiate an obstacle.

Out of 18 of the world’s best at AOM, Vashon’s own Weston finished sixth, but it’s his journey to the invitational that tells his story.

This year, 13 of the 18 competitors received invitations based on the amount of competitions they had won and how well they did in last year’s Art of Motion (how well-known they are) or the intensity and difficulty of the runs in their online video submissions. The remaining five spots were left open for those who would compete as walk-ons in a “selection jam” in Greece.

That is what Vashon’s own Weston did. After taking home victories at the 2016 North American Parkour Championship competition and the APEX International competition earlier this year, but after Art of Motion invites had been sent, he created a GoFundMe page to raise $1,000 to send him to Greece.

“He raised the money very quickly. He is loved and highly respected in the parkour community,” family friend Michele McBride said. “He is not only highly talented, but also a super humble and nice guy.”

On Sept. 30, Weston took on 108 other walk-on traceurs and secured one of the five coveted spots.

“I was so relieved and happy to have made it into the competition at the on-site qualifier,” he said. “With how well this year has gone, that is the least I should be feeling.”

The next day, with a heel injury from repetitive landings on hard surfaces and a shortened run, Weston competed head-to-head with the other 17 and finished sixth.

In a Facebook post Weston wrote once he was back home, he expressed frustration with his final run and mentioned he “was not 100% healthy” going into the competition.

“Having to go through the on-site qualifier did not help with that. I value my training and health after competitions, and it wasn’t worth pushing too far. Not satisfied with my performance, but I am so thankful for everything to have happened the way that it did. Much love to everyone,” he wrote.

Frustrations aside, in a weekend email to The Beachcomber, he said the experience was a dream come true.

“It was a surreal moment watching the replays of my runs because this has been a competition that I have always watched over the years,” he said. “Overall, my training for the past four years is feeling like it’s starting to really pay off, and that is such an amazing feeling.”

Four years. Weston has reached this level of competition after a few years of parkour training, but it all started with gymnastics when he was 12.

Weston’s father, islander Ron Weston, said Nathan has always been “this kind of tree-climbing wild child,” which led to him participating in an on-island acrobatic arts program before pursuing gymnastics.

Nathan said he has always been a quick learner. He went to Nationals his second year of gymnastics and attributes his success to his coach recognizing the talent and pushing his skill level. But gymnastics competitions took the fun out of the sport, Nathan said, and he quit when he was 14.

“I then did basketball for two years in high school, thinking that I would fall in love with it again due to my childhood revolving around this sport,” he said.

Basketball wasn’t cutting it either, and he said he had a realization one day on a trampoline at his home.

“I started doing flips on my backyard trampoline, and I realized my passion was for flips and such, not gymnastics,” he said. “Realizing this, I found out what parkour was and then went to a gym called Parkour Visions in Queen Anne. In that moment four years ago, I found what I truly was made to do.”

And so began his rise to international notoriety that has led to his most successful year yet. He now teaches at the Queen Anne gym and has made friends up and down the West Coast and around the world. He is sponsored by a parkour gym in Colorado and Ron Weston described the parkour community as tight-knit before explaining that Nathan has friends from as far away as Germany who have come to stay with them.

“This year he’s had big successes,” Ron Weston said as he listed off his son’s successes in the North American competition, APEX competition and Art of Motion. “He set a goal last year to make it to the Red Bull competition. He’s only 19 and has never been to anything like that before. Most guys there are in their mid-20s and have been multiple times.”

Nathan conceded that his goal was to make it to the Art of Motion and added that his training has revolved around that goal.

“It has definitely been a crazy four years filled with small injuries and obstacles, but that is what makes it all worth it,” he said.

Ron Weston says his son’s passion for parkour and free running is what keeps him pushing through the injuries and obstacles.

“He is really passionate about what he’s doing,” he said.

Looking ahead, Nathan said that in the coming year, he wants to be “the same as this year, but better.”

“I feel like I’m just cracking open the door to my full potential, and I cannot wait for next year’s progression,” he said.

Video footage of Nate Weston and the Red Bull Art of Motion finals can be found on Red Bull’s website at tinyurl.com/hkht7mb.