New film relives Minnesota-led Mississippi River Guinness speed record

A new documentary will premiere next month about a Minnesotan-led canoe pursuit of the world speed record for the fastest descent of the Mississippi River in 2023.

Scott Miller and three companions claimed the Guinness Book record when they paddled their 23-foot Wenonah canoe the entirety of the river 2,300 miles from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico in 16 days, 20 hours and 16 minutes.

The 90-minute film “Mississippi Speed Record: An Epic Adventure” premieres at 10:30 a.m. Aug. 3 at Riverview Theater in south Minneapolis.

Filmmakers Alex Maier and Amy Robin of Wilderness Mindset, a Montana outdoors production company, were with the paddlers and the large support crew on the ground and on the water when the record attempt began May 10, 2023. They captured the trip from white caps on Lake Winnibigoshish in northern Minnesota not far from the Lake Itasca headwaters to the barge wakes of the Lower Mississippi River. In between, on a relentless tear, the men experienced all manner of physical and mental hardships and, too, the joys of extreme adventure on the great river.

Tens of thousands of Facebook fans followed the team’s attempt.

The filmmakers at times had to match the relentless 24/7 pace of the paddlers. Maier said the conditions were unlike anything they’d experienced on other projects, including several around long-distance hiking.

“We were just on the entire time,” he said. When they weren’t filming and shooting photos, there were challenges such as charging batteries and storing or editing footage. He said the increasingly weary paddlers couldn’t have kept up the action either when every minute was factored in to try to get the speed record.

From sleeping to eating breaks, the paddlers “were doing the absolute minimum they could do to keep going,” he added. “It wasn’t sustainable.”

Robin sounded most impressed by the expressions of humility and gratitude from the paddlers despite the intense conditions.

Film tickets are $15 apiece. Find them on Eventbrite. Tickets also are available for a celebratory pizza party and panel discussion at 5 p.m. Aug. 3 at the DoubleTree hotel in Bloomington.

The filmmakers have released two trailers in advance of the showing. View them at bit.ly/canoeMISS.