Bruce Kirkby

Canada

‘Success, to me, means living on one’s own terms. And always being a good person.’

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Achievements

– Rounding Cape Scott, Vancouver Island, 2020 (200km, 7 days)

– Grease Trail, Great Bear Rainforest, 2019 (230km 5 days)

– Crossing Lake Ontario, Solo, 2018 (50km open water)

– Vancouver Island Outer Coast Solo, 2014 (500km, 11 days)

– Vancouver to Victoria, 2012 (150 km, 5 days)

About

As a long-time wilderness guide and athlete, Bruce came to paddleboarding in 2012–when an Olympic gold medalist invited him to join a 100km fundraising paddle. And he’s never looked back. Today Bruce continues to push the limits of what is possible in the wilderness aboard a SUP, traveling by lake, river and ocean.

With journeys spanning more than eighty countries and thirty years, Kirkby’s accomplishments include the first modern crossing of Arabia’s Empty Quarter by camel, a descent of Ethiopia’s Blue Nile Gorge by raft, a sea kayak traverse of Borneo’s northern coast and a coast-to-coast Icelandic trek. He has spent three decades guiding wilderness expeditions, from rafts in the Canadian Arctic to sea kayaking journeys in the Caribbean.

A columnist for The Globe and Mail, author of three bestselling books and winner of multiple National Magazine Awards, Kirkby’s work has appeared in the New York Times, Outside magazine and Canadian Geographic.

+ Info

Nationality: Canadian

Lives in: Kimberley, British Columbia

Other Sports: Surfing, Skiing, Mountain Biking

Other Sponsors: Blackfish Paddles, MEC, Vasque, Astral, Mustang Survival

Contact info

Kimberley, British Columbia