Mar 12, Kathmandu - The 50th International Whitewater Rafting and Kayaking Festival and the 24th Himalayan Whitewater Challenge organized on the Trishuli River concluded on Thursday. Nepali athletes and teams performed excellently in various categories and won titles in the three-day competition.

In the Kayak Mandatory Run category, Ravindra Chepang won a cash prize of Rs 100,000. Jason Gurung won the Kayak Sprint category, while Dambar Bahadur Purvachhane won the Kayak Cross category.

Similarly, Paddle Nepal won first in the 10-kilometer raft race and won a cash prize of Rs 50,000. In that category, Jaldevi Adventure came second, Nepal Kayak Club came third, and Rafting Adventure Nepal came fourth. 11 teams participated in the raft race.

Himalayan Exploration, which started water tourism for the first time in Nepal, was also specially honored at the event.

The closing ceremony was attended by Nepal Tourism Board Vice President Ram Prasad Sapkota, Senior Director Hikmat Singh Air, Senior Manager Uday Bhattarai and Nepal Association of Rafting Agencies (NARA) President Kamal Thakuri among others.

The speakers at the event said that since Nepal is a major destination for adventure tourism, special attention should be paid to river conservation along with the promotion of river-based sports tourism. They also mentioned that joint initiatives are needed to develop rivers including Trishuli as international water tourism destinations.

The competition is expected to make a significant contribution to promoting Nepal's river-based adventure tourism as well as introducing sports tourism at the international level.