6th Himalayan Freestyle Championship: Everything is Possible When we are United

Just like the rest of the word suffered due to the pandemic, so did the Nepal river industry. More than 90% of Nepali river guides and kayakers have had no earnings for more than a year now. Not even the organizers of the Nepal Kayak Club thought this event would take place because of the pandemic and lack of sponsors.

BUT GUESS WHAT! It did happen and the 6th Himalayan Freestyle Championship became THE BEST FREESTYLE EVENT OF ALL TIME.

So in the end, all these jobless river lovers each donated a rather small amount, but so many of them donated that they raised enough money to run the event and give cash prizes to the winners.

And that’s not all, the generosity of our river guides and kayakers touched so many hearts of our supporters and visitors that many of them decided to give us more cash and prizes.

“We have been running this event from our pockets, only to keep the sport alive” says the president of Nepal Kayak Club Anup Gurung.

He dreams to organise a campaign where they could import more freestyle kayaks (3 kayaks were shared by 5 finalists) and invite pro freestyle kayakers before the event and run a training camp. He believes that this could perhaps add more interest and inspiration to the upcoming generation kayakers.

And last but not least, this event also had only one lady competitor Susma AKA Muna Kali who dreams to be a pro kayaker and mountain guide. She won equipment from NRS, a $100 donation from Bindu Fund and a sponsored two week mountain guide course up by the Everest base camp with Ang Tshering Lama, the man of the mountain.