'Blood Road' screens at convention in Reno
Red Bull Media showcased extreme endurance athlete Rebecca Rusch’s documentary, "Blood Road," at the 99th National Convention of The American Legion Aug. 21 in Reno, Nev., before an audience of several hundred Legion Family members.
"Blood Road" is the story of U.S. Air Force pilot Stephen Rusch who was shot down and killed while flying bombing missions over Laos during the Vietnam War, and his daughter Rebecca who endeavored to mountain bike the entire 1,200 miles of the Ho Chi Mihn trail with Vietnamese cycling champion Huyen Nguyen, who served as guide and translator, to find her father’s crash site and learn more about the man she never knew.
Rebecca, 48, is one of America’s greatest ultra-endurance mountain bikers and is known as the Queen of Pain on the international circuit. She has raced professionally for more than 30 years and is a seven-time world champion.
"This was the biggest athletic undertaking of my career," said Rusch. "More importantly, my father’s memory was calling to me and I knew I needed to travel there to see what I would find. I was finally ready to learn about the details of my father’s death and get to know him better by riding my bike to the place where he died.”
"Blood Road" pays tribute to the losses experienced by families on both sides of the conflict and illustrates the mind-boggling scale of the U.S. Air Force’s bombing campaign during the war.
Unexploded ordnance (UXO) from the war continues to claim lives in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos to this day, and Rebecca is using some proceeds from the film to support demining and UXO removal in the affected countries.
Nicholas Schrunk, the film’s director, did a majestic job of showcasing the breathtakingly beautiful landscape along the trail pockmarked by damage from the war.
The film not only honors the memory of Rebecca's father, it also serves as a thoughtful reminder of the continuing cost of war across generations.
More on "Blood Road" can be found at www.bloodroadfilm.com. See a trailer here.