Ben Marr: Renaissance Man

Download Ben Marr Video!

Greetings Ladies and Gents,

Well, I am here today to tell you about a very good friend of mine, who is one of the most naturally talented paddlers that I have ever met. Ben Marr and I first paddled together when we were 15 or so at a Liquid Skills five day course(Junior Development Program- very cool by the way, check it out). Since then Ben has been a world class mooch, bumming rides off of me, using my boats etc... but the kid's finally got a job, on the Ottawa River no less, and has been absolutely destroying it! I was blown away by Ben's playboating when I first arrived in Canada this summer after school, and have been wanting to get him in a creekboat ever since I started paddling the Green when I was 15. Finally he got his chance.

With the advent of the hurricane season at the end of this summer, Ben and I drove 22 hours from Canada in my Honda, and arrived at the Toxaway River takeout with very little sleep, slightly offsetted by an adrenaline buzz that always acommpanies a run on my favourite creek on earth! So, at the risk of being flamed to death by everyone for doing this, Ben's inititiation to creekboating was on the TOXAWAY. Although Spencer and I both kept a super close eye on Ben throughout the day, he absolutely killed it, and ran every single rapid except for Landbridge and the marginally runnable 40/40! So anyways, here's a quick vid of Ben's paddling in a Crux and Orbitfish during our Southeastern trip, as well as him ripping it up on our home river, the Ottawa. Our 7-day trip was completed with the Green at 275%, Chattooga at 4 ft, Triple Falls at HIGH WATER, Upper North Fork of the French Broad, and the Nolichucky at 8,000 cfs. Hope you enjoy, I'm sure you'll be seeing more of this crazy kid.

Download Ben Marr Video! Kid is a wacko nut job!

Toxaway Photo Gallery

Over and out,
Chris Gragtmans