President’s College wins 2025 Inter-Schools Kayaking Competition

President’s College’s “Purple Nation” has emerged as the winner in this year’s ExxonMobil Guyana Inter-Schools Kayaking Competition, hosted by Elite Kayaking and Nature Tours.
The team delivered electrifying performances, securing the top spots in all races and categories in Sunday’s exciting competition, which was hosted outside the Watooka Guest House in Linden.
The match-up saw a total of 10 secondary schools from Linden and Georgetown competing for the cash prize of $600,000, plus trophies and medals.
The New Silvercity Secondary secured second place and was awarded $400,000, while third place went to Linden Foundation Secondary, which was awarded $250,000.
Sixty-five per cent of the cash earnings is awarded to students in the form of educational vouchers towards school supplies, while the remainder is awarded to the schools.
Main organiser of the event and owner of Elite Kayaking and Nature Tours, Dr Deon Anderson, said the competition, now in its fourth consecutive year, is aimed at fostering a healthy competitive spirit among students.
“So, my lifeguards and I, who are all from various secondary schools in Linden, we sat down and had our usual chat boasting about which school would beat another school in kayaking. For example, they were saying, ‘If we were to have a kayaking competition this school would win, that school would win. No, my school would win.’ And then we said, ‘Well, let’s put it to a test’. And we basically said, ‘You know what? Let’s come up with this idea of inter-schools kayaking competition,’” he noted, explaining how the competition was birthed in 2022.
Dr Anderson said the sport has also provided an opportunity for students who have never participated in sports before to be part of a meaningful activity.
“Some students that never even had any experience in running or participating in sports before, kayaking was the first time they actually participated in sports. They found a niche where they were comfortable and they would be accepted. Some of them are not good runners, they are not good track and field people, but they know they can paddle and they definitely wanted to give it a try. The champion boy for that inaugural year, interestingly, he had never done anything for sports in his school, but he came out as a champion for his school in the inaugural competition. So it was a new breed of students, a new concept of sports in the country. It attracted a fresh group of athletes who, while there wasn’t necessarily a place for them to partake in, this was an area that they naturally gravitated to, and definitely attracted new fans, and also general sports enthusiasts overall,” he indicated.
Dr Anderson said he is extremely happy about the support the competition has received thus far, from persons across various backgrounds.
The National Inter-Schools Kayaking Competition is slated for 20 July and will feature schools from various regions across Guyana.
Schools from Bartica, Lethem and Mabaruma have been top performers, who battle head-to-head over the years at this stage in the competition.