Joida: More than 44 competitors reached their goal kayaking in the Kayaking Marathon held in Kali river on Sunday, 4th June.
The marathon was held in Kali river paid near Aveda village. After crossing the rapid, the participant had to cover around 10 km to reach the goal at Moulangi. The competitions were held in professional, intermediate and amateur categories. Life guards moved along with the participants through rafting.
The valedictory of the Kali Kayaking fest was held at Horn-bill Resort on Sunday, where prizes were given to winners.
Meanwhile, Youth Empowerment & Sports Minister Pramod Madhwaraj said, “In order to encourage adventure sports in the State, Youth Empowerment & Sports Department is organizing many adventure sports events this year. First among them was the Kayaking festival”.
Speaking at the Kali Kayaking Utsav, he said that tourism and adventure sports have close relation. Therefore, the Tourism Department has given Rs 3.5 crore to General Thimayya National Academy of adventure sports events will be held in the State.
He said that, the Kali Kayaking Utsav is next to Ganga Kayak Utsav, Meghalay Kayak Utsav and Malabar Kayak Utsav in the country. It is first-of-its-kind in the State and more than 150 people participated in the fest. The fest saw participants from New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, America, Italy and other countries. From India, people from Meghalaya, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Karnataka participated.
"In Barpole in Virajpete taluk in Kodagu district, rafting can be organized only in rainy season. But Kali river is controlled by dam and it always have flow of water. Therefore, it is ideal of Kayaking. Every year, such events can be held. To conduct such adventure sports, steps will be taken to develop some permanent facilities”, the minister said.
The minister also informed that to encourage sports persons from the State who represent India Olympics the government is planning to adopt 1,000 such sports persons and provide all co-operation and facilities to them.
Results
Vikram Gurunath, Abhishek Sagoi, Neeraj Mehra, Mark Hovers (first)
Nidhin Das, Sohan Pouluri, Taylor Graham (second)
Manik Tanej, James Smith, Elvin Lolan, June Borlang L Nongabri (third.