Rush Sturges (born February 14, 1985) is an American professional whitewater kayaker, film maker, and musician.

Early life

Rush Sturges grew up in Forks of Salmon,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where his parents own and operate Otter Bar Lodge, a destination kayak school on the Salmon River. Sturges' upbringing at Otter Bar Lodge exposed him to kayaking and film making at a young age. As a young teen, Sturges filmed and edited videos of Otter Bar's week-long kayaking retreats, which he would then sell to that week's clients.

Kayaking and film making career

Sturges began competing in

freestyle kayaking Canoe freestyle (also known as playboating) is a discipline of whitewater kayaking or canoeing where people perform various technical moves in one place (a playspot), as opposed to downriver whitewater canoeing or kayaking where the objective ...

when he attended Adventure Quest, a traveling kayaking high school. Sturges co-founded Young Gun Productions to document the kayaking exploits of his peers and himself through film with two other Adventure Quest students: Brooks Baldwin and Marlow Long. Each member of the production company was under 18 years old when they released their debut film, ''The Next Generation''. In 2003, Sturges won the Junior World Championships of freestyle kayaking in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. After turning 18 he has returned to represent the U.S. at the freestyle kayaking world championships twice. Sturges is credited with having invented several freestyle moves including the pistol flip and the hail mary. The hail mary involves doing a complete front flip over a waterfall, and is one of the most cutting edge moves in

freeboating Canoe freestyle (also known as playboating) is a discipline of whitewater kayaking or canoeing where people perform various technical moves in one place (a playspot), as opposed to downriver whitewater kayaking, whitewater canoeing or kayaking wh ...

. With Young Gun Productions, Sturges produced three more successful kayaking films, then went on to create his own production company, River Roots. River Roots partnered with

Tyler Bradt Tyler Bradt (born June 2, 1986) is an American whitewater kayaker known for kayaking Palouse Falls. Biography Born and raised in Stevensville, Montana, Tyler Bradt was first introduced to kayaking at only six years of age by his father, Bill Bra ...

's production company, Revolutionary Innovations, to release ''Africa Revolutions Tour'' in 2009. The sister companies released their second joint project, ''Dream Result'', early 2010. Sturges films, edits, produces, and stars in each of his films. For his numerous accomplishments in whitewater kayaking Rush Sturges was named an Outdoor Idol by the Outdoor Industry Foundation and was chosen with fellow Young Gun Productions film makers as one of the 20 greatest outdoor athletes by Outside Magazine.Faces Magazine
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Filmography

Musical career

Rush Sturges performs hip hop and

freestyle rap Freestyle is a style of improvisation, with or without instrumental beats (Mystrodamus), in which lyrics are recited with no particular subject or structure and with no prior memorization.Kevin Fitzgerald (director), '' Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme' ...

under the stage name Adrenaline Rush. His first album was released February 16, 2010. The album title is "The Road is Gold". Songs have been featured in various kayaking movies, and he has opened for the hip hop groups

Swollen Members Swollen Members is a Canadian hip hop group from Vancouver, British Columbia, consisting mainly of Madchild and Prevail. Frequent collaborators include vocalist Moka Only (who was actually a member of the group for a short period of time in the ...

and Subliminal Sabotage.

References

External links

River RootsRev-InnAdrenaline RushTeva Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sturges, Rush 1985 births Living people American male canoeists Kayakers Whitewater sports people