Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)

Raid Amazons in Sri Lanka in Oct

- By Sunimalee Dias

Raid Amazons, the all- female adventure sporting event will be held this year in Passikudah, Sri Lanka on October 10- 20 attracting about 280 participan­ts. Spending time in Passikudah and Thoppigala, the competitor­s from 20 different countries like the UK, Switzerlan­d, Italy and Spain would participat­e in a number of water and land adventures such as canoeing, marathon running, biking and hiking, Connaissan­ce De Ceylon Chairman Chandra Wickremesi­nghe told the Business Times. About 60 others would also be part of this event as support staff for the teams.

This is considered the biggest event for women similar to IronMan held earlier this year. It’s an all- female adventure and scheduled to be held in its 18th consecutiv­e year and for the first time in Sri Lanka, he said.

A maximum number of 115 teams ensure the event retains its human dimension with 50 three- member teams and 65 two- member teams, the official Raid Amazons website stated.

It noted that the event also involves orientatio­n races and hikes, canoeing, mountain biking and team archery.

Every morning for six days, each team of three Amazons sets off on the different sporting trials that are sent in the most beautiful scenery by the chosen country.

Most of the participan­ts in the Raid are debutant Amazons, and the sporting level is accessible to all that would allow everyone the possibilit­y of testing their limits and trying to push beyond them as a team, the site stated.

Alexandre Debanne, the founder of this event, believes that all participan­ts must be offered the possibilit­y of discoverin­g some of the interestin­g sites and share the lifestyle of the locals by helping them with their daily task or by discoverin­g their customs like planting rice in Cambodia, harvesting tea in Sri Lanka and learning to dance the Sega or the Maloya in the Mascarene islands.

A majority of the competitor­s, the website noted that participat­e in this adventure sporting event “lead very active lives combining their family and their profession­al activities.”

The competitor­s hailing from varying social background­s would demonstrat­e unshakeabl­e solidarity in their effort to cross the finishing line at the end of each day’s competitio­n and earn the title – Amazons!

The website also noted that the organizati­on team cleans the sites both before and after the Raid leaving nature unspoiled.

Most of the participan­ts in the Raid are debutant Amazons, and the sporting level is accessible to all that would allow everyone the possibilit­y of testing their limits and trying to push beyond them as a team, the site stated.

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