Leena Ramesh, a housewife from Pulloorampara, is on cloud nine as she sets out to compete in her maiden white water kayaking championship at Pulikkayam here on Saturday. She has tough competition from the family: daughter Rasmi Ramesh, a second year nursing student, who got into the sport three years ago.
The 47-year-old mother and 19-year-old daughter are striving to make their mark in an international kayaking championship hosted by the State Tourism Department — a race dominated by foreign participants.
“I never planned to take up adventure sport at this age. A few village boys gave me the confidence and the basic training to float on water using a locally made lifebelt,” Leena said.
It took around five days for Leena to pick up the basic paddling strokes and the blade movement for maintaining a stable posture on the kayak. A local academy, which initiated Rasmi into the sport, helped Leena too. But the biggest support for Leena was her daughter who was trained by Scottish expert Callum Strong.
“Mr. Strong inspired us to learn this new sport and explore its possibilities in our own village. He and his team members made us believe that women too can excel in water sport,” Leena said.
Their training methods for my daughter inspired me to take the paddle, she said. The duo compete on kayaks provided by the academy.
Leena was a confidence booster in all the major events Rasmi had participated. “Last year, she came here as a spectator to encourage me. From now on, she too will participate in such championships,” Rasmi said.
Both the mother and daughter will figure in the intermediate category. As there was some last minute reshuffle in the schedule, they could not attend the event on Friday. They will compete in the same event on Saturday.