"500 kayaks" is probably the largest event of its kind in Poland - aimed to promote active recreation and the local tourist attractions through kayaking. It first took place in 2013, when the Podlaskie Voivodeship celebrated its 500th anniversary - back then still as a one-day event. Over 230 kayaking crews took part in the first edition - and the meet-up only gathered more popularity ever since.
Historically, Drohiczyn is the first capital of this voivodeship - according to historians' findings, at the end of August 1513, under the privilege of King Sigismund the Old, the first Podlaskie Voivode Ivan (Jan) Sapieha was appointed in this city.
This year's edition of the kayaking gathering in question is the eleventh. In 2023 the event was cancelled at the last minute due to safety reasons caused by extreme weather - as storms and heavy rain were pummeling Drohiczyn from the morning, and the situation worsened just before the kayakers started.
Rafał Siwek, Drohiczyn's Municipal and Communal Culture Centre director, told Poland's national Press Agency PAP that this year almost 1,050 people registered on the list of participants. Many declared they're coming with their own kayaks - and the city provided the vessels for the ones who didn't. The youngest registered kayaker was 4 years old, the oldest - aged 80.
"After the participation list got closed, we still received a lot of phone calls asking if it was still possible to join" - Siwek said. "Seeing the interest - if there were, for example, eight hundred kayaks instead, we'd be full as well" - he added. However, as the official noted - such an event would be more difficult to organise in terms of logistics and safety, hence the decision to keep the kayak number restricted to half a thousand. Or just a tiny bit more...
About every fourth participant of Saturday's part of the event declared he also wants to kayak on Sunday. The first day saw the participants paddle the 29 km long Drohiczyn-Granne section, starting from the beach in Drohiczyn. On Sunday, they will cover the 23-kilometre route from Granne to Nur.
According to the latest data, less than 2% of the total length of Polish rivers have first class purity water, suitable for drinking. Meanwhile - almost a third of Polish rivers' length are no-class waters, below any gradation and with contamination indexes exceeding 60%.
Events like the one in Drohiczyn might just as well make the people in Poland think about this fact a little more. On another hand - it remains debatable if such mass gatherings on the Polish rivers are part of the solution - or part of the problem...
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Source: PAP