TAAN Eco-Challenge 2013

With a view to attracting tourists in the off season, Trekking Agencies´ Association of Nepal (TAAN) is organizing TAAN International Eco-Challenge 2013 on August 17.

The Eco-Challenge is a team event in which teams comprising four members each will compete in three different disciplines of sports -- running, cycling and rafting, the organizer TAAN announced at a press conference in the capital on Monday.

"We are organizing the event with a view to attracting tourists in the off season as well. The period from October to November and from March to May are the only tourist seasons in Nepal and we hope such events will help attract tourists in the off season as well," said Mohan Lamsal, the general secretary of TAAN. According to TAAN President Mahendra Singh Thapa, the event is being organized with the slogan "Nepal for All Season".

All four members of each team will start the Eco-Challenge with a 6.5-km race from Bhutkhel ground, Tokha to Pani Muhan, Budhanilkantha. A team can compete in cycling once all the team members reach the finishing point. Similarly, all the team members have to complete the 14.5-km cycling race from Nagarjun-Shivapuri National Park to Sundarijal before they can take part in rafting, the third and final segment of the event. The 7.5-km rafting race will start from the Bagmati River at Sundarijal and finish at Gokarna.

Each team will get one guide for rafting and the team that finishes first in the last segment -- rafting -- will be declared the winner. "The main objective behind starting every stage after the arrival of all team members is to develop team spirit," said Saroj Neupane, the coordinator of sports, festival and ceremony department at TAAN.

The registration fee for Nepali teams is Rs 2,500 and $ 100 for foreign teams. The top three teams will bag Rs 100,000, Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively. The organizers have expected at least 10 teams to participate in the event. The expected cost of the event is about Rs 1 million.

source: republica,5 August 2013