Malabar River Festival logo. File
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The 11th edition of the Malabar River Festival, which was scheduled to begin on Thursday (July 24, 2025), will commence a day later, and in a low-key manner without any festivities in honour of former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan who passed away on Monday (July 21, 2025).
“The events will be held at Pulikkayam and Pulloorampara as scheduled. But the procession and other cultural programmes have been cancelled,” said Linto Joseph, Thiruvambady MLA, who is in charge of the festival. Cultural programmes have also been cancelled.
As scheduled, the extreme slalom competitions in all categories will be held at Pulikkayam in Kodenchery on July 25 and 26. The downriver race and super finals will be held at Pulloorampara on July 27.
Over 10 foreign kayakers have already arrived at Kodenchery and are engaged in training for the International White Water Kayaking Championship in Chalippuzha and Iruvazhinji rivers where the competition will be held.
The special invitees for this season include Anton Sveshnikov, Ryan O’Connor, and Daria Kuzischcheva from Russia, Manu Wackernagel, Zack Stones, Millie Chamberlain, Dayla Ward, Rata Lovell Smith, and Philip Palzer from New Zealand, Patrick Sheehan and Jose Todd from the US, Kilian Ivelic from Chile, Jill Joos from Belgium, and Maria from Italy. Manu Wackernagel was the Rapid Raja in the previous edition of the festival. Several national-level kayakers, both professionals and amateurs, are also taking part in the championship.
The pre-events of the festival such as ankling, rain walk, farm tour, painting, mud football, off-road fun drive, badminton tournament, tug-of-war, tourism seminar, cycling, and bullock race have already been held at Kodiyathur, Thiruvambady, Kodenchery, Koodaranhi, Puthupadi and Perumanna grama panchayats, besides Mukkam municipality.
The festival is jointly organised by the Kerala Adventure Tourism Promotion Society and the Kozhikode District Tourism Promotion Council with technical support from Indian Kayaking & Canoeing Association.
Published – July 23, 2025 08:23 am IST
