Kampar River (White Water) Festival

Kayaking down the Kampar River

The recently concluded Kampar River Festival besides being another tourist attraction of what Gopeng has to offer the eco-adventure visitors could become an international event if all plans fall in place.

Kg Jahang, Gopeng on the Kampar River where the event was held

Tourism Exco Tan Kar Hing ( 6th from right) and tourism officials

    

       

The event was organized by local Gopeng adventure company Radak Adventure with collaboration from Tourism Perak and the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

 The three day international festival held from July 5 till 7 featured three main races Rafting, Kayaking and tube racing.

 

Rafting Race 

Kayak Race

The three events attracted 128 international participants who came from Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Australia, Pakistan, Germany and Malaysia.

Mohd Adib of Radak
 Adventure,the organiser

An administrator with Radak Adventure, Mohd Adib Othman said this was the first time a white water competition was being held in Gopeng.

I had noted that all the judges were Indonesian and enquired about this. Adib confirmed my observation explaining that Malaysia didn’t have a body to cover white water activities

“In Malaysia we have an association covering kayak and canoeing activities but it does not cover white water activities. We collaborated with Federasi Arung Jeram Indonesia (FAJI, the white water federation of Indonesia) who in turn is affiliated to the International Rafting Federation (IRF).  

 

Indonesian officials Mia and Mada

We invited FAJI to collaborate as they had experience, provided officials and knew the IRF regulations. In this way we intend to learn of their setup and subsequently setup a Malaysian white water association with Kampar River Festival as our platform”.  

That is the plan and hopefully we will have this event again next year and beyond.

 

The Champions  Rex Kayak School with Youth and Sports Exco Howard Lee (centre)  and Gopeng MP Lee Boon Chye

The overall champion this year was won by local Gopeng adventure outfit called Rex Kayak School while the runner up was FAJI Kota Bogor from Indonesia.

Looks like we are off to a good start.
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Kg. Jahang, Gopeng on the Kampar River ... venue hi-lites

At the sports village 

Lots of view points along the river

Local drink vendors, thirsty Singaporeans

Friendly food vendors

services on site 

clean facilities

meet the local residents 

Perak Tourism's ambassador 'KOPIRO' at Dataran Kg Jahang

Secretariat and Station 

commercial centre 

 

Lunch hour

Family friendly 

Kayak for sale $800

Other services

Kg Jahang, Gopeng ... kembali lagi ....