World Chase tag event debuts at The Arnold

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The Arnold Sports Festival has a brand new event this year: World Chase Tag and the sport is growing exponentially.

The game involves teams from the worlds of American Ninja Warrior and parkour competing in a giant game of tag. The founder of World Chase Tag, Christian Devaux, said he came up with the idea for the game after playing tag with his son in their backyard.

“The more we played, the more sophisticated our games became in terms of obstacles and rules,” Devaux said. “We devised a method of scoring with two iPhones, one counting down and then one working out how long each person spends on it. Then I thought this would be an interesting thing to do if you had athletes.”

And so World Chase Tag was born. When they started, it was just a group of people having fun together in a park. But then parkour athletes fell in love with the game, and it got competitive. The sport has now become popular worldwide.

The rules are pretty simple: “You’re stuck on a court with a person who is trying to chase you,” said Robert Schihl, a coach of a women’s World Chase Tag team. “You are trying to evade out for 20 seconds. You have six people on your team, and you’re essentially trying to be the person on the court that hasn’t gotten touched yet.”

It is hard work. Athletes need many skills to succeed, like jumping, crawling, spatial awareness, speed, and stamina, which is why many parkour and American Ninja Warrior athletes do well with the game.

Devaux is thankful that both sides enjoy it so much.

“I always had in my mind that it could be like this, but you’re never sure if it actually is going to work out like that. But yeah, this is pretty much what I had in my mind,” he said.

Of course, this is the first year World Chase Tag is at The Arnold, and it seems to be a hit.

“It’s really cool seeing bodybuilders and just people who have never seen chase tag before,” Schihl said. “People are peeping in saying, ‘What’s going on over here?’ so I think there is a lot of really good exposure at The Arnold event.”

World Chase Tag winners at The Arnold will be able to compete in the Chase Tag World Championship in London this October.

The Expo also got a visit from Arnold Schwarzenegger himself Saturday morning as he greeted fans, signed autographs, and checked out stations around the Columbus Convention Center.