The white water kayaking community has received the news it was dreading. One of the brightest, leading lights of white water kayaking, has been lost.
White water kayaking is a risk based gravity sport, and just like most other gravity based sports, the consequences can be very real. But, the seriousness with which we take safety means that compared to many other adventure sports, tragedy is thankfully rare. But, when it happens, it hits hard. The loss of Bren Orton has been sending shockwaves through the sport’s community. Widely regarded as one of the best kayakers around, alongside luminaries and close friends Dane Jackson and Adrian Mattern, Bren was a rarity at the top of the sport.
Anyone who met him was struck by how down to earth he was, filled with enthusiasm to see what they could do on the water rather than showing off and turning the focus back on himself. Bren had no rich parents or trust funds to fuel his trips around the world, instead working long hours on building sites and famously, getting paid for taking part in medical research among many other things. He built up a huge following online and was truly hitting his stride with what he regarded as the magic combination of funding his kayaking without the need for side jobs, along with his other passion, video production.
Most of my own experiences with Bren came from his interest in cameras and production techniques. Most conversations were virtual, online, because he was always travelling or abroad. Whenever I encountered him in person, he always wanted to know what I thought about whatever camera was hot at the time, or wanted some editing advice. Meanwhile I hoped that some of his kayaking skills magic would rub off on me by getting tips. Much of the time my advice to him was to keep doing what he was doing, because he had his own style, and it was shaping nicely.
What struck me most was his drive. Bren was someone who was determined to make kayaking his life. He didn’t have the support of big money sponsors like Red Bull, but he was making things work, and he wasn’t going to stay static. He wanted to produce the absolute best video and media content about the sport he could. More than anyone else I can think of other than Dane or Eric Jackson, Bren did more to widely promote the sport of white water kayaking in a positive way than anyone else I can think of in recent years.
If you ask a kayaker to name a current famous white water boater, some may have said Aniol or Gerd Serrasolses, some may have said Eric Jackson, Nick Troutman etc, but for the most part these days it would have been a tie up between Dane and Bren. If you ever had the fortune to meet him on the river, he’d chat like any other person. That might sound a ridiculous thing to say, since he was just a person like any other. But, in what other sport can you casually chat or meet someone at the top of their game while you are engaged in the same activity? He loved to see other people progress since he last saw them, and although he’d constantly have the itch to run harder white water, he’d never turn his nose up at just having a great time ripping up lower grade rivers like Tryweryn, serving as a rockstar like idol to the younger generation who wanted to follow in his footsteps.
Annual events like Bren’s Park Jam saw him tour the country, engaging with and helping out all manner of kayakers, particularly the young groms, promoting the sport. The nearest equivalent I can think of is that it would be like Michael Phelps turning up at a local swimming pool, or Marcus Rashford turning up to give some tips at local village football clubs. Bren understood the opportunities and support he’d been given on his rise to the top of the sport, and he wasn’t going to shy away from giving something back. It’s a rarity, and the result was that it’s undoubtable that Bren very much became the face of British kayaking.
Think of Pyranha Kayaks, and Bren will come to mind as the main ambassador of the company. Bren and Pyranha are inexorably linked in most kayakers minds. Bren was to Pyranha what Dane Jackson is to Jackson Kayaks. There’s a reason why the two companies are the most popular on the planet, and it’s in no small part due to how Bren and Dane make the respective boats look so good on the water. But, it’s also about character. Bren was a natural on camera, with an infectiously enthusiastic demeanour and delivery. It’s one thing to have an elite sports athlete on your team who excels at their respective sport, but it’s quite another to have someone who is such a natural in front of the camera and microphone as well being talented behind the lens, too.
When we think of the risks in our sport, we still never quite believe that such a fate will befall people like Bren. He took safety incredibly seriously, and if he was running something, he knew he was perfectly able to do it. Some great boaters have been lost to the river in the past couple of years and it’s always hugely tragic and heartbreaking when it happens. But, Bren’s passing is going to leave a huge void in the sport that will have an impact on everyone who participates on the river, because he had an impact on so many people. It’s a void that will be impossible to fill. RIP, dude, you will never be forgotten.
The Kayaking Journal 
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