All systems in place for Inter-school Kayaking competition at Watooka Guest House on Sunday

...top GT Secondary Schools to challenge Linden’s best for honours

By Joe Chapman

AS a huge 53rd birthday present to the mining town of Linden, come Sunday, there will be the second Annual Inter-School Kayaking Competition where Linden, and by extension Region 10 (Upper Demerara /Upper Berbice), will face the might of five of the nation’s top secondary schools from 10.00hrs behind the Watooka Guest House on the Demerara River.

There, residents, members of the Diaspora and visitors from all across Guyana will converge for this annual spectacle, following last year’s inaugural championship, the first of its kind in Guyana and the Caribbean region, where the home team Harmony Secondary School reigned supreme.

Reached yesterday for a comment, Chief Organiser, Dr. Deon Anderson noted, “We got some surprises and Courts has come on board to give tablets and bag packs of school supplies to each and every student who wins overall, the winning team will get bag packs and food supplies and tablets for all the students.”

Based on Dr. Anderson’s expectation, some cash vouchers are likely to be up for grabs also from another sponsor where second and third place winners can expect to collect additional surprise prizes that will be redeemable for school supplies.

Dr. Anderson said the activity this year will be catering for the youngest to the oldest patrons because there will be a kids zone, and novelty games, while adults will have jet skiing rides available during intervals in between and flat screen television showing everything live throughout the day’s events and following the races from start to finish.

Dr. Deon Anderson, who spearheads the Elite Kayaking

Last year’s winner: Harmony Secondary (from left) Lexi Pulimyre, Ezekiel Persaud, Randy Ali and Jeremiah McDonald

& Nature Tours, a certified tour operator by the Guyana Tourism Authority), informed Chronicle Sport that it is once again ready to host its second annual inter school kayaking competitions.

In fact, Dr. Anderson related: “The feedback from this inaugural event was phenomenal and extremely gratifying not only for each district but for Guyana as a whole. Such an event endorses the ideals of One Guyana, further strengthening the bond between the three sectors of Education,

Tourism and Sports as students, teachers and families around the country can celebrate together with a new sport that sets a unique precedence which is different from the traditional sports in Guyana.”

Further, the Elite Kayaking & Nature Tours are doing this event in collaboration with the Upper Demerara/ Kwakwani Sports Committee (UDKSC), which is an experienced committee whose members have been integrally involved in officiating sports events at the National inter-school athletics competitions for many years. By virtue of this, Dr. Anderson reported that Sunday’s competition will be executed using the same format and rules implemented at the National Inter Schools Athletics, with the same level of professionalism, safety and oversight.

All the secondary schools in Region 10, along with the Top 5 National schools in the country as guests, should allow for an interesting show of healthy competition and rivalry to see who is the best kayaking school in this year’s competition.

A total of twelve schools are carded to contest Sunday’s championship, namely Queen’s College (QC), Bishops’ High (BHS), St. Stanislaus College, St. Roses High, St. Joseph’s High (SJH), Mackenzie High (MHS), Christianburg/Wismar Secondary. (CWSS), Wisburg Secondary. (WSS), New Silvercity Secondary. (NSS), Harmony Secondary. (HSS), Linden Foundation Secondary. (LFS) and Kwakwani Second- ary. (KSS).

Each team will comprise eight (8) participants along with two (2) substitutes/ additional to bring the total team members to ten (10) participants: 5 males and 5 females. The team members will participate in a total of seven (7) races.

The Long Distance Single categories will be from Rigby’s Boat Landing to the Watooka Guest House (a distance of approx. 2 km).

The long distance categories are: 1. Long Distance

Male single: 1 person

2. Long Distance Female single: 1 person

3. Male relay (sprint and double kayaking): 3 persons

4. Female relay (sprint and double kayaking): 3 persons.

The other short distance kayaking races will take place in front of the Watooka Guest House over a distance of approximately 400m And they races are 1.

Male single: 1 person, 2. Female single: 1 person

3. Mixed Team (double kayaking): 2 persons