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By Nicole Telford- Kayaking locally, nationally and regionally can lead to Olympics glory.” This is the belief of Dr. Deon Anderson Proprietor of Elite Kayaking and Nature Tours.
Village Voice News caught up with Dr. Anderson Sunday last at the events second annual Kayaking competition hosted in Mckenzie Linden at the Watooka Guest House waterfront, where he explained that “this sporting event is a novel concept of sports tourism in Guyana.”
The pioneer said his aim is to “link the beautiful cohesion of kayaking to sports tourism and education with the aim of getting the sport of kayaking into Guyana’s school curriculum.” Dr. Anderson explained that “in the developed countries rowing and canoeing is at the forefront of the Olympics so we want to see kayaking develop and skyrocket in this country so that we can see teams from the Caribbean and international teams participating in the Olympics.”
Dr. Anderson explained that “Guyana is a land of many waters with several tributary rivers and riverine communities nationwide, adding that canoeing and paddling forms part of the day-to-day life and livelihood of citizens in these communities which sets the stage for his novelty venture of bringing life to the sport of kayaking.” In Guyana’s riverine communities’ children as young seven years old paddle to and from school daily however some areas governments water transport is provided to relieve children from the rigorous and exhausting chore. This started under the 5Bs initiative of former President David Granger APNU/AFC coalition administration which included buses, bicycles, breakfast, books and boats. Three rivers have access to Linden namely Essequibo, Berbice and Demerara rivers with riverain communities all along their shores.
Dr. Anderson said Teams from schools in Guyana’s ten administrative regions continues to participate in this event yearly with Participants ages 12 through 17, Dr. Anderson further stated that “this is the kind of sport seen in developed countries like the United kingdom and Canada,” explaining that kayaking builds upper body strength, torso strength, upper muscular strength and is a cardiovascular exercise which is equivalent to going to the gym.” He added it’s a perfect body workout which not only helps with the physical body but also strengthens mentally since you are in the outdoors in nature in the eco system immersed into eco-tourism.”
The Dr. further expressed the need for the sport to develop and branch out to schools within the Caribbean adding that it is the first for the Caribbean with Guyana taking the initiative. As he reminisced on the Cool Runnings Jamaican bobsled team that competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics he said he will be negotiating with the region to further develop the sport program.
“The Ministries of Education, Culture youth and Sport, Tourism foreign investors and several other non-governmental organization have contributed and the British Embassy are in support of this event.” said Dr. Anderson.
