The Americas



A man has logged the fastest Grand Canyon river trip on record, battling blisters and rapids as he paddled his kayak down a 277-mile (446km) stretch of the Colorado River in 34 hours and two minutes.

Grand Canyon Rapids.

Grand Canyon Rapids. Image by Mark Byzewski / CC BY 2.0

Ben Orkin reached the end of his journey exhausted after navigating the water in the dark and swimming part of it when a rapid toppled his kayak. Mr Orkin beat a record set last week by more than an hour and a previous one set by three men in a non-motorised boat in 1983, according to Tom Martin, secretary of the Grand Canyon Historical Society.

“I’m super happy I beat it,” said Mr Orkin, a 25-year-old certified public accountant. “I’m never trying it again.” The unofficial records kept among river rafters started with Major John Wesley Powell, who rowed the river in 29 days in 1869.

(Press Association)