30 from NE complete mountain biking course with TAAS

GANGTOK, 01 Dec: Thirty trainees from North-Eastern states completed a “Technical Team for Mountain Biking” course which was part of the capacity building training for tourism stakeholders of North East Region offered by Travel Agents Association of Sikkim [TAAS] and sponsored by the North East Council [NEC] under Ministry of DONER.

The main objective of this training, apart from imparting the required skills, was to help generate more awareness and knowledge about mountain biking as an adventure sport apt for the North-East Region. The 20-day training was provided by five resource persons - Mithun Biswas from Siliguri and Prateek Singh, Biswajit Chakraborty, Deepanjan Chakraborty and Suvankar Roy from Kolkat.
As they took the thirty trainees on terrains and trails at Pangthang, Rumtek, Sang and Pelling, they were taught on the types of mountain bikes, how to dismantle and assemble them, safety measures, riding skills and mapping out a terrain for a ride.
On completion of the training, these thirty participants were handed over certificates by TAAS during a valedictory function on Wednesday.
With the completion of this training, TAAS has now trained 30 trainees each in Tour Operator, Trekking & Guide Specialist and Technical Team for Mountain Biking courses.
Speaking t the valedictory function, TAAS Advisor, Paljor Lachungpa, encouraged the participants to make use of the knowledge received at the training to promote mountain biking as a tourism product to sell in the global market.
He also stressed that tourism cannot be promoted in isolation and required team work to develop and promote. In this regard, he encouraged the participants to promote tourism together for the entire region.
The programme started with a welcome address by Lily Tshering Bhutia, who underlined that the participants had received a good opportunity to learn technical aspects of mountain-biking while also enjoying the whole process. The first camp for technical team for mountain biking started from Pangthang, followed by sessions in Rumtek,Sang, and Pelling.
A trainee from Meghalaya endorsed the training as a rewarding one, sharing that it was one of the most thrilling experiences of his life. “We enjoyed the beauty of Sikkim. TAAS members supported us from the beginning till the end,” he said.