What's afoot

From What The Wiki?!

What must be the tallest man present at WhatTheHack was spotted on Friday, bouncing over of the asphalt road separating the conference tents from the food and drink section. Two meters twenty tall, hop hop hopping he went, making giant strides, with the grace of a gazelle. His name is Remco. His legs were bought on-line.

No, he is no cyborg, nor disabled. He simply got himself a pair of kangaroo extensions at http://kangaroo-boots.de/ . It's a strap-on contraption reaching to the calves and with braces over the feet, that looks like a crossbreed between stilts and a skippy ball. A small gummi foot is connected to a plier-like construction, which in turn is supported by a bow. It all looks terribly fancy and dashing.

'This is only my second day on them,' Remco Kangaroo says. 'Yesterday I started practicing, and after ten to fifteen minutes I was quite comfortable walking with them, and today I've already been on them for three hours.'

A video on the web site indeed proves that kangaroo walking can be learned fast. A first-timer is helped up and, with the support of another guy stabilizing him by holding his hands, is shown prancing, hopping and jumping after only a few minutes. The jumps he makes are quite impressive and almost a meter high.

Remco proves that by now he is a die-hard kangaroo walker by running over the asphalt. Hop hop hop he goes again, taking giant strides, never wobbling. The only hassle is that, when taking to the passers-by, he needs to keep moving. You can't stand still on the kangaroo legs, you gotta keep moving.

story submitted by Karin Spaink

Running kangaroo: Video1 Video2