Flagstaff speed racers share epic story of attempt to break the Grand Canyon speed record

Grand Canyon Youth storytelling event hosts nine speakers

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — “Aside from the shivering 15 hours of misery, it was really amazing,” laughed Flagstaff river runner Justin Salamon as he, Lyndsay Hupp and Omar Martinez told their story of attempting to set a new speed record through the Grand Canyon just weeks earlier.

Salamon, Hupp and Martinez were three of nine storytellers who shared personal accounts of experiences on rivers during the second annual Grand Canyon Youth storytelling event Jan. 23 at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.

The theme of the evening was “The Place is in Charge,” and one by one each storyteller relayed the powerful and mesmerizing experiences they had in the Grand Canyon, among other exotic places, and how rivers had touched and humbled their lives.

Among the storytellers was Laurel Morales, Wayne Ranney, Richard “Q” Quartaroli, Margeaux Bestard, Jon Hirsh and Eliza Moyer. Salamon, Hupp and Martinez rounded out the evening with their tale of speeding down the Colorado River Jan. 9.

Grand Canyon Speed Run

The original Grand Canyon speed record on the Colorado River was set in 1983 when three Grand Canyon oarsmen rowed a wooden dory, the Emerald Mile down the Canyon in 36 hours and 38 minutes.

In 2016, a single boatman paddled his kayak — solo, making it down the Canyon in a record 34 hours and two minutes.

Despite their best efforts, the Jan. 9 crew missed the record by four hours completing the descent downriver in 37 hours and 55 minutes.

Salamon, Hupp and Martinez all work as commercial river guides in the Grand Canyon. Throughout the evening, the trio shared a chronological retelling of their trip down the Canyon, relaying how they found themselves on the trip, how the idea originated, the training that went into preparing for it, what the journey was like for each of them and the impact it has had on them since.

Preparation for the trip began last year after John Mark Seelig, captain of the U.S. Men's Raft Team received a rafting permit through the annual non-commercial river trip lottery. The water was expected to be high and not many river trips were expected to be on the water in January.

Salamon received a call in April asking him if he would like to be a part of the team. Hupp joined the team in late September and Martinez in December.

For training, the team spent between 5-10 hours per week on rowing machines. They also went on two training trips. One down Cataract Canyon and another down Westwater on the Colorado River.

Hupp said she took over food prep for the trip after the group didn’t pack much food to eat on the Cataract Canyon trip and only pizza for the Westwater trip.

She estimated the group of eight needed around 120,000 calories on the boat for 35 hours of activity. Her menu included Stinger waffles, gels, gummies, homemade pancakes, PBJ’s, Buckeyes, almond fudge, sliders, Mcmuffins, hydration powder, cold pizza, $65 worth of chicken tenders from Chick-fil-A, homemade rice bars, cookies, muffins and Huppy Bars.

“We were well supplied with snacks, not that we ate as much as we should have, but we tried,” Hupp said. “You had to eat more than you wanted to.”

Once their journey started, the team was met with cheering crowds who jumped up and down, waving and cheering ecstatically from beaches, boats and the Black Suspension Bridge below Phantom Ranch.

“It was so touching to have the community support and to know that you’ll were out there as we went into a great experience and a miserable experience,” Salamon said. “Thanks for being there with us.”

By the end of the trip Hupp, Salamon and Martinez agreed that Grand Canyon was ‘in charge.’

“The last part was a testament to the team’s ability to come together and really focus in on something and really dig deep. We knew that we weren’t going to beat the record. The Emerald Mile was in front of us by a little bit of time and that was slowly becoming out of our reach,” Martinez said. “All of us were coming back and forth between our zombie mode and being alive and I think all of us really came alive right there and then. That was the point in time where we had challenged ourselves and the Grand Canyon allowed us to exit gracefully … it was a beautiful experience.”

This was the second attempt for the U.S. Men’s Raft Team to break the speed record, having tried in 2017. The team decided it wanted to go beyond its own goals and take the spirit of adventure to a bigger audience. They chose to support Grand Canyon Youth and raised $13,000 for future scholarships and program funding.

“We were humbled and so privileged to be chosen,” said Emma Wharton, director of Grand Canyon Youth. “Thank you so much, there’s going to be a lot of youth that you’re going to help get onto the river.”

Grand Canyon Youth provides an experiential education for young people along the rivers and canyons of the Southwest. The program promote personal growth, environmental awareness, community involvement and teamwork among people of diverse backgrounds.

The storytelling event was sponsored by Wildland Trekking Company.

More information about Grand Canyon Youth is available at gcyouth.org.