India’s First Kayaking Festival Celebrates The 7th Edition
Rishikesh 17th-19th February, 2019: The seventh edition of the Ganga Kayak festival is slated for the 17th of February in Devprayag, Uttarakhand. It is India’s first kayaking festival and will see over hundred national and international kayakers compete for the grand prize. The Adventure Sports Society has been organizing the Ganga Kayak Festival (GKF) since 2013 with the help of other kayakers and local communities.
Ganga Kayak Festival was founded by Bhupendra Singh Rana and supported by the core team Bheem Chauhan (President), Harendra Rawat (Secretary) and members Sandeep Rana, Vishal Bhandari, Dhruv Naresh Rana, Ayodhya Prasad and many more.
Their goal and vision is to bring world champions and international paddlers to participate and entice the world with the beauty of Uttarakhand, India, making it the best kayaking festival in the world.
The three-day event provides a platform for athletes to showcase their skills at an international, competitive level. Since they have introduced this festival, there has been a revolution in the mentality of Indian river rafting and kayaking professionals. With majority of these local athletes working full-time as river guides and safety kayakers, they now want to bring their professional white-water careers to the forefront with various levels of training and safety skills. This is vital as the the safer the river is, the more travellers will be drawn to the state of Uttarakhand. The Ganga Kayak Festival has played a big role in bringing together the rafting and kayaking community in Uttarakhand and to travellers as a safe adventure sports destination.
They have had massive support from the local communities and members of the industry who have been running their individual outdoor companies as paddlers in India. The festival as been recognised on international media and brands in the outdoor industry. A lot of young guides have received job opportunities thanks to this and are working as International river guides around the world.
Uttarakhand Tourism has been a driving force behind this festival since 2014 and is also the title sponsor this year along with NRS (Co-sponsor) Powered by Jellyfish Watersports, along with Indo Ganga Holidays Pvt. Ltd., Level Six and Bailley Water as sponsor partners.
The event will be photographed and filmed by The Black Country Films and will be organized by White World Expeditions, Rescue India, Nomad trails India and Camp Moonlight. Dainik Jagran as the media partner and Let’s Be Outdoorsy as the content partner will cover the event for all days.
The festival promises to encourage more female athletes participate this year. The Indian canoe slalom team apart from Sunita Chauhan, Naina Adhikari and a Norwegian paddler are the top-ranking athletes who will potentially be participating this year. Team Inspire Crew, a women-led adventure videography crew will help document and empower more female kayakers during the festival.
National Champions Sanjay Rana, Ayodhya Prasad, Pramod Magar, Rishi Rana, Sohan Rana, Dinesh Pandey, Tresing Chotak, Ashu Rawat, Manish Rawat and Amit Magar will be taking part at the festival this year.
The international contingent includes a list of Olympian paddlers and world champions who are extremely interested in visiting this year. Mike Dawson, Sam Sutton, Joe Morley, James Bebbington are just a few of the international names that will potentially compete this year.
With the eclectic surroundings of Rishikesh and the sacred Deoprayag as the ideal setting for Uttarkhand’s annual celebration of the white water rapids, this edition promises to be an adrenaline pumping week for participants and spectators alike. To know more visit http://www.gangakayakfestival.org/