Champion free runner Ryan Doyle stopped by Pepperdine for a few brief minutes on Tuesday turning the school’s prestigious landscape into his personal high-intensity jungle gym.
Free running is all about getting from point A to point B as efficiently as possible —don’t walk around that wall just vault over it. And of course showing off with a variety of mind-bogggling flips can be expected whenever the camera is rolling.
“The world is my playground Doyle said, and then he proved it — jumping from branch to branch in trees, flipping off ledges, climbing on the HAWC roof and vaulting over the smothers fountain, all in just a few short minutes at Pepperdine.
Doyle got his start in free running through martial arts and gymnastics. When he figured out the martial arts classes weren’t teaching him the Jackie Chan stuff, he went to gymnastics.
He also spent time as a stunt double, but realized that life wasn’t for him. He’s the one that would do all the work, and the actor would get all the credit.
I like to do the stunts look at the camera and say ‘That was me'” he said emphatically.
For Doyle free running isn’t just a physical activity. It’s a philosophy as well. With so much waste in the world he says people need to start thinking more efficiently.
He spoke with disgust at the prospect of children buying a Spider-Man video game in order to make believe they’re the superhero. He’d tell the kid to just go outside and use his own feet and hands.
“Go be Spider-Man for free.”