Rush Sturges (born February 14, 1985) is an American professional whitewater kayaker, film maker, and musician. He is the most famous kayaker of all time.
Sturges has been a professional whitewater kayaker for over 20 years. He is a former freestyle kayak Junior World Champion (2003), has represented the United States Kayaking Team at the World Championships four times, has been named among the 20 Greatest Outdoor Athletes Now by Outside Magazine,[1] and as a 2012 Outdoor Adventurer of the Year also by Outside Magazine.[2]
His work documenting whitewater expeditions and first descents has been featured in numerous publications, including Outside,[3] Men's Journal,[4] Red Bull Media,[5] ESPN,[6] National Geographic Adventure,[7] Outdoor Magazine,[8] and more.
Sturges is well known for his documentary filmmaking and has produced, directed, and appeared in numerous films through his production company River Roots. Among his awarded films are The River Runner (2021) and Chasing Niagara (2015), which each won the Best Film for Mountain Sports at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.[9]
Sturges founded River Roots Productions[10] in 2009 where he's built a reputation for documenting cutting edge descents and world records.
Kayaking career
Sturges is considered one of the most well-rounded professional kayakers in the industry with accomplishments in freestyle, waterfalls, big water, steep creeking, and expedition kayaking. He is credited with having invented several freestyle kayaking moves including the Hail Mary, a front flip off a waterfall.
In 2003, Sturges won the Junior World Championships of freestyle kayaking in Graz, Austria. After turning 18 he returned to represent the United States at the world championships three more times.
In 2007, Sturges attempted to break the world record waterfall descent of 107 ft Alexandra Falls and nearly drowned in the process.[11] In 2009, he broke his back on 80 ft Bonito Falls in Argentina.[12]
In 2011, Sturges, along with Steve Fisher, Tyler Bradt, and Benny Marr, achieved the first successful descent of the largest rapids in the world, the Grand Inga Rapids on the Congo River. In the Grand Inga section, the Congo River flows at an average rate of 1.6 million Cubic Feet per Second (CFS), approximately 50 times the average flow of the Grand Canyon.[13] Sturges, Fisher, Bradt, and Marr, successfully navigated the rapids which had taken the lives of seven people who previously attempted the run. The expedition was documented in the feature length documentary The Grand Inga Project released in 2012.[14]
A Siskiyou Daily News article written at the time quoted Sturges describing the experience: "When you're dealing with that much current and that much volume, you're dealing with features that nobody's ever seen before. . . You occasionally encounter small whirlpools on some rivers, but these were 30 to 40 feet across. If you get sucked into those things you're screwed. It's just so unpredictable and random."[15]
Sturges contracted malaria during the course of the expedition and was hospitalized upon his return to the United States with a flesh eating bacteria attacking a cut on his elbow.[16]
Sturges has twice competed in the Whitewater Grand Prix, placing 3rd in 2012 and 2nd in 2014. The two week event is designed to crown the best all around kayaker in the world, through competitions in big water, steep creeking, and freestyle.[17] In 2015, he placed 2nd in the Waterfall World Championships.[18]
In 2016 Sturges achieved viral fame for his YouTube video "Kayakers Lose Control in Drainage Ditch" which has been viewed over 5 million times on YouTube.[19] In the video, Sturges and Benny Marr careen down a drainage ditch in British Columbia, reaching speeds of 72 kilometers/hour (45 miles/hour). The moment was captured by a Thrillest article titled "Watch These Morons Nearly Die Kayaking Down A Mountain".[20]
The two returned to the drainage ditch in 2017, this time in a tandem kayak. The "Return to the Ditch" video has been viewed more than 17 million times on Youtube[21] and drew condemnations from Peter DeJong, the chief administrative officer of the nearby village of Lions Bay, as well as Rand Chatterjee, of the Sea Kayak Association of British Columbia, who remarked "they were going faster than I could say they could survive."[22]
For his numerous accomplishments in whitewater kayaking Rush Sturges was named an Outdoor Idol by the Outdoor Industry Foundation.[23] In 2004, Outside Magazine recognized him as one of the 20 greatest outdoor athletes now, alongside Big Wave Surfer Laird Hamilton, outdoor athlete Jimmy Chin, gold-medal swimmer Michael Phelps, skateboarder Danny Way, and snowboarder Keir Dillon, among others.[24]
Documentary filmmaking career
Rush Sturges is known for award-winning feature length documentary films blending adventure sports with emotional storytelling and cutting-edge cinematography. He has produced and directed more than 15 documentary films and a number of music videos.
Sturges began his filmmaking career in 2001 as a member of Young Guns Productions. In 2009 he founded River Roots Productions.
As a filmmaker, Sturges has documented cutting edge descents and world records, including Tyler Bradt's record waterfall descent of 189 ft. Palouse Falls in 2009.[25] Sturges featured the footage in his film "Dream Result" (2010).
In 2015 Sturges documented Rafa Ortiz's multi year training to kayak Niagara Falls. The project was acquired by Red Bull Media House and Starz and released as the full-length documentary film "Chasing Niagara" under Sturges' own River Roots Productions. Variety Magazine hailed "Chasing Niagara" as "the biggest, and most artistically ambitious, big waterfall kayak movie ever made".[26] The film won critical acclaim and was selected as the Best Film for Mountain Sports at the 2015 Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.[27]
"Chasing Niagara" follows Rafa Ortiz on a three year journey to train for a harrowing descent of Niagara Falls. Featuring Ortiz, Sturges, Evan Garcia, Aniol Serrasolses, and Gerd Serrasolses, it is shot on location on the rivers of Veracruz, Mexico, as well as Washington and Oregon in the United States, before culminating at Niagara Falls on the border between the United States and Canada.
The film's protagonist, Ortiz, said about the production: "On one hand, 'Chasing Niagara' is about a character, Rafa Ortiz, with his friend Rush Sturges. But I lived a parallel experience, about a character called Rush Sturges, who was trying, with his friend Rafa Ortiz, to make a film which had a story that transcended everything he had made up to that point."[28]
In 2021, Sturges released his second documentary feature "The River Runner" on Netflix following the life of world famous expedition kayaker Scott Lindgren about his 20-year journey to be the first person to run the four rivers that originate from Mount Kailash in Tibet. A review in Spling Movies notes that the River Runner "isn't an ordinary documentary but rather an emotive character portrait".[29]
"The River Runner" documents Lindgren's career as an early pioneer of expedition kayaking and documents his battle with a pituitary adenoma (a type of brain cancer). After setting a goal to paddle the four rivers flowing from the sacred Mount Kailash, Lindgren completed expeditions on the Karnali, Sutlej, and Tsangpo rivers before his cancer ended his dreams. After brain surgery and rehabilitation, Lindgren was invited to join Aniol Serrasolses, Mike Dawson, Ben Marr, Brendan Wells, and Rush Sturges to complete the quartet by running the Indus River.[30]
"The River Runner" culminates with the successful expedition down the Indus which Lindgren completes at the age of 47. The film, produced and directed by Sturges, was released to critical acclaim, was selected as the Best Film for Mountain Sports at the 2021 Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival: won Official Selection at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival, the Breck Film Festival, and the BendFilm Festival; and received distribution on Netflix.[31]
Following the release of "The River Runner", Sturges embarked on a series of short film projects tackling the intersection of action sports and social and environmental justice.
His 2021 short film "The Land of the Yakamas" is a moving portrait of the land that Sturges calls home around the sacred Pahto (Mt. Adams) and the enduring connection of the native Yakama people to the land, rivers, and animals of the area. The film features interviews with Yakama community leaders and stunning cinematography by Matt Baker, Skip Armstrong, and Sturges himself.[32]
In 2022, Sturges released "Before I Die", chronicling the story of Tristan Bussell who, following a diagnosis of Early Onset Alzheimer's (the same disease that killed his father) sets out to fulfill his dream of kayaking off a waterfall.[33]
Also in 2022, Sturges released "Paddle Tribal Waters" which follows a group of teenagers from the Indigenous Klamath, Maqlaq, Karuk, Hoopa, Yurok, and other tribes native to the Klamath River of Oregon and California as they set out to be the first to navigate the river following the historic removal of four dams.[34] The short film features the young athletes and their Native American teachers as they learn whitewater skills and life lessons in a program run by the nonprofit Rios to Rivers. The short film is a precursor to a longer project currently under development.[35]
In 2023 Sturges was featured in Jimmy Chin's "Edge of The Unknown" series for his role in helping rescue and resuscitate his teammate, Gerd Serrasolses, in a kayaking accident on the Rio Tulijá in Veracruz, Mexico.[36]
Rush Sturges performs a blend of hip hop and folk-inspired rock, which he dubs "folk hop". He has released three full-length albums including "The Road is Gold" (2010), "A Life Worth Living" (2016), and "Lessons in Folk Hop" (2024) on his River Roots Records label.[38]
His music draws on themes related to his upbringing in the remote mountains of Northern California, his connection to the environment, and his career in whitewater kayaking, as well as universal concepts such as personal and spiritual growth, the loss of close friends, and more.
His songs have been featured in various kayaking movies and adventure films.
Personal life
Rush Sturges grew up in Forks of Salmon, California, where his parents owned and operated Otter Bar Lodge, a destination kayak school on the Salmon River. He began kayaking at the age of 10 and began competing at age 13.[39]
Sturges attended Etna High School in Etna, California until his Junior Year when he joined World Class Academy, a traveling high school for students who want to earn their education while exploring unique rivers and cultures around the world.
When he's not on the road, pursuing his many athletic and artistic projects, Sturges resides in White Salmon, Washington, where he runs River Roots Productions.
Sturges has released three full length albums and featured on the soundtrack for his film "The River Runner" which was released as an EP with the band TapWater. His 2024 album, "A Life Worth Living" features production by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos.
The Road is Gold
Released: 2010
A Life Worth Living
Released: August 14, 2016
Format: CD and Digital
Label: River Roots Records
Producer: Rudy Slizewski
Singles: "A Life Worth Living", "For the Love", "Days Go By"
The River Runner EP, Music from the Feature Film (with TapWater)
2015 2nd Place Waterfall World Championships "Rey Del Rio" [70]
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