More than 120 participants from about 12 countries are expected to arrive at the Tour International Danubien (TID) regatta on the Danube in Vidin on August 12, said Todor Petrov, chairman of Vidin's Bononia tourist society.

The TID, an annual event for kayaks, canoes and row boats, began this year on June 23 in Ingolstadt, Germany, and will end on August 25 in Silistra, north-eastern Bulgaria. The course follows the Danube through Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia to Bulgaria.

The length of the course is 2 082km.

Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Germany and Bulgaria will participate this year. The German group also includes rowers from Canada, Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands, according to Bulgarian news agency BTA.

The rowers will be welcomed to Vidin with a programme of entertainment organized by the Vidin local administration in cooperation with local Ecology, Sport, Tourism associations.

The tour is a celebration of nature and sustainable navigation on the Danube.

The annual event, which was first held in 1955, granted permission to Western European participants to paddle past the Iron Curtain into Eastern Bloc countries during the Cold War era.