Quickie with Emma – Airspace Unleashed
Emma Scrivener's fast, fantastic 5-minute interviews
Airspeed Unleashed, Troy Rodway and Frédéric Poulin — by Lesley Gale
Interviewer Emma Scrivener (with her VFS & D4W medals from the Bodyflight World Challenge)
Airspace Unleashed
Every time I see Airspace Unleashed, they exude a super-cool demeanour and look extremely focused and laid-back. They train hard, fly fast and seem to be totally at ease within the competition environment.
After the interview, we drank beer, chatted and laughed a lot; I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to get to know the wonderful, hilarious boys behind the cool, calm team!
Here is a sneaky peek into the wonderful world of Airspace Unleashed…
- Troy – Canada
- Fred – Canada
How long have you been in the sport?
- Troy – I’ve been skydiving for 5 years and flying in the tunnel for 3 years
- Fred –
I started in the tunnel 9 years ago and began skydiving 2 years ago
What other sports do you do?
- Troy – At the moment a little BASE jumping and also skydiving
- Fred – Rock climbing, running, swimming, a little free diving (but not a lot), skydiving
What do you do to help you relax before a competition?
- Troy – Visualisation for sure, and trying to have plenty of self confidence
- Fred – Visualise, I like to brush my teeth
- Troy – Airspace have been incredible; so much support from them! Sonic suits too, as well as Michele Cnops, our team manager. Oh and obviously my mother is supporting me too!
- Fred – So much support from Airspace in every way, Sonic suits, my parents and family, Mich
Do you have any siblings?
- Troy – No
- Fred – I have a half sister and she flies too. She is manager at Montreal… She is who got me into the sport!
Tell me a fact that we may not know about you:
- Troy – I’m terrified of horses (Troy smiled) I like horse-power, not horses!
What is your biggest life goal?
- Troy – I'm a dream chaser, I don’t want to have to spend my life just doing work. Both parents are business owners, and it’s not that I don’t want to work hard, but I want to have fun… and have kids!
Who is your biggest influence in flying?
- Troy – Taylor Letwin. He’s pretty high up in the base jumping world and I can thank him for where I am today. He really pushed me and made me push myself. In the tunnel it’s got to be Håvard Flaat and Adam Mattacola.
- Fred – When I started out it was JC Ouimet. Presently my biggest inspirations are… Havard for sure. Ahh, it’s difficult to choose. Gyzmo too, I like his style!
Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?
- Troy – Easy answer… I’m so scared of horses. I’ll fight the duck any day… Plus, I love foie gras!
- Fred –
I would say the 100 horses. Ducks are vicious
Would you rather spend the rest of your life locked inside the tunnel or be locked out of every tunnel in the world forever?
- Troy – I would pick outside. The tunnel gives me a lot, but it’s not everything for sure. I’m a skydiver at heart!
- Fred –
I’d rather be locked out
Would you rather wear a ski jacket or be naked for the rest of your life?
- Troy – Naked… for sure!
I
- Fred – I’d rather be naked
If you could eliminate one thing from the world, what would it be?
When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?
- Troy –
I wanted to be a soldier. My uncle was in the army and I looked up to him a lot
- Fred – A vet
Can you touch your nose with your tongue?
- Troy – Noooo way!
- Fred – No, I’ve tried before!
On a scale of 1 - 10, how would you rate me as an interviewer?
- Troy – No-one’s perfect, so I’ll give you a 9. I like your questions a lot!
- Fred – 10! (We high fived!)
Airspace at Sakura Cup — by Lesley Gale
Team questions
I asked each member of the team these questions separately. The questions were about their team mate and they had to answer honestly. Then they were allowed to compare answers…
-
T - Troy… with clothes
- F - Troy
Who has the best dress sense?
Who gets their own way the most?
-
T - That's a tough one. I don’t know. I’ll say me
- F - I don’t know, I’ll say me
Who spends the most time on social media?
-
T - Fred (you don’t want to talk to Fred between 7am and 11am)
- F - Fred
- T - I would say me (karaoke not yet here)
- F - Oooh I don’t know… I’ll say Troy
Who takes the longest to get ready?
-
T - It’s pretty equal
- F - None
Who is the most immature?
- T - We’re pretty equal there, we laugh a lot
- F - Troy, but really both
Who is the fastest flyer?
- T - I’m a little bit lighter than him so physically probably me!
- F - Troy
Who smells the most delicious?
- T - Troy
- F - I don’t know, but Troy puts on cologne more often than me
This team amazed me in their answers. They know each other inside out and they also live together. When Troy was answering his questions he predicted that Fred would have all the same answers and lo and behold… he did!
Airspace Unleashed at Sakura Cup — by Troy Rodway
About the Author
Emma Scrivener
I am 30 year old sports massage therapist, former primary school teacher, sometimes-presenter and extreme sports-lover. I try to see the lighter side of life; laugh lots, live hard and make as many connections with interesting human beings as possible! I've been skydiving since 2010 and flying in the wind tunnel since 2014. I've represented GB in the World Indoor Skydiving Championships 2016, competed several times in 2 Way Dynamic and more recently in VFS and 4 Way Dynamic. Sometimes I commentate at these competitions. Perhaps I enjoy commentating so much as it combines two of my favourite things; flying and talking. If I'm not flying, then watching incredible athletes and talking about their flying is a pretty wonderful alternative!