Red Fox Adventure Race has celebrated 15 years this season!
20.06.2018
Report by Irina Morozova
About 1000 people gathered in Karelia region, on the picturesque bank of Vuoksi river to participate in the 17-th International Red Fox Adventure Race, which celebrates 15 years this season! Athletes, organizers, photographers, journalists, and those who was going to support the participants – friends, families, coaches – all these people were waiting for the start.
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
More than 500 athletes from all over Russia and the teams from Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine started in the race. About a hundred of organizers and volunteers setting the check points, preparing technical stages and ensuring its safe passage by the teams; they delivered bicycles, rollers and other equipment in the transit zones, preparing food and tea and making everything the athletes could enjoy the beauty and difficulty of the distance, designed by Vitaly Chegarovskiy.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
The families, friends, parents and kids supported the participants for all the 4 days of the race: fed and watered them, helped with equipment and a lot of small things they need to help with. A lot of different factors may influence the race. For example, this year one of the strongest Russian multisport teams Red Fox Adventure Team, the winner of the previous race, had to get off the distance because of breakage their kayak.
Traditionally the teams started in two classes: Long (48 hours this year) and Short (24 hours).
Vitaliy comments: “It depends on whether we have interesting places and their remoteness from each other. The area of the race is not so huge this year, the most beautiful and interesting spots are near the Competition center, so there is no need to make the race area bigger. I’d like to note that 24 hours class this year is a good incentive for those who would like to race, but was afraid of 48 hours of non-stop multisport race. They can participate in the Short class in the race”.
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
However, most of the participants choose the Long class. It started just after the grand opening ceremony. 272 athletes started in this class: 26 teams in Long 4 and 84 teams in Long 2 (32 - MW, 55 - MM). Even 48 hours seemed to be not enough for someone. “We are ready to run more”, - say some teams after finishing, keeping the strength of mind.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
The athletes were in this positive mood during the whole race. The good sunny weather during the first day of the race helped to keep it. Besides, to the end of the first day all the participants were still dry. Normally, just in the beginning of the race they have to plunge into the water and then not dry the next few days, getting into a river or visiting the beavers in search of check points. In this case all came out almost dry even out of the tracking on the swamp.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Ivan Dementievsky
The athletes, accustomed to the “wet” distance by Vitaly Chegarovskiy, can’t help to rejoice at this
- You see, even such a person as Chegarovskiy do understand that this is very unpleasantly to always be wet and get into the mud, - Vitaly himself commented. – If we can drop it and nevertheless to design an interesting distance, it’s great. We don’t need to bathe the athletes across the race. I think, the best way of looking at the race is not to make it extremely uncomfortable.
Photo by Ivan Dementievsky
The distance was really comfort, as far as we can call comfort the 24- or 48-hours multisport race.
The start of Long class was unusual this year. Brand new stage was set up: rollers. It made race more exciting, and not only for the participants, most of them learnt to roller-skate before the Red Fox Adventure Race. Normally, you may see the start of kayaking only from the shore, but this time the supporters got a chance to be in the thick of things. Three hundred athletes on the rollers jumped with the starting signal. At the same time, the cars rushed after the escort team, motorbikes with operators, bicycles on the roadside, - the cavalcade stretched far along the street.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Ivan Dementievsky
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
It was very hard to reach leaders even on a bicycle. Speedo indicated 24-25 km/h on a level road and up to 35 km/h on the slopes. Fours were going in coupling, like a small train. Someone was skating with speed skating, the others with sticks, like on a roller skis.
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
From the very beginning it was obvious: some athletes trained for this stage, but some others mastered it right in the process of the race.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
And if the a dozen leading teams broke out far ahead, the others stretched for many kilometers on the distance. The last teams finished the first circle – roller stage with a trekking loop on the swamp – only by night of the first day. By this time the leaders had managed to drive a large cycle route with technical rope stages and starting a kayak stage.
The struggle between the leaders was harsh. It’s hard to believe, but even in the 48-hours race the seconds were decisive for some athletes. Only 14 seconds divided two teams from Long MM class. While the total time they spent at the distance is 37 hours, 22 minutes.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
25 hours later the class Long has been started, the participants of the Short class was going to begin the race. The first stage here was, as usual, kayaking. Then – bicycle stage, an abandoned airfield, dulfer from a water tower, a ferry, trekking through thickets along the channel, and again a kayak, just not as easy as at the beginning.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Ivan Dementievsky
Photo by Ivan Dementievsky
Photo by Ivan Dementievsky
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
A number of teams – Red Fox Spb Team (Short 4) and three ones in a Short 2 class - broke out far ahead. The arrangement between the latter teams was constantly changing - then one or the other two at the next stage was going out ahead. As a result they all finished one by one with a time difference about 10 minutes. At the same time a gap between teams in Short 4 was bigger: the 2-d and the 3-d ones came to the finis in 4 hours after the winner, getting fewer points for CP.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
An hour after the all teams finished the grand awarding ceremony was held – the final point of XVII Red Fox Adventure Race. Rather, not the point, but exclamation point. Because, as Vitaly Chegarovskiy said right before the start, “A person can live without food a long time, without water – just a few days, without air – just a couple of minutes but we can’t live without Red Fox Adventure Race”.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
About 1000 people gathered in Karelia region, on the picturesque bank of Vuoksi river to participate in the 17-th International Red Fox Adventure Race, which celebrates 15 years this season! Athletes, organizers, photographers, journalists, and those who was going to support the participants – friends, families, coaches – all these people were waiting for the start.
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
More than 500 athletes from all over Russia and the teams from Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine started in the race. About a hundred of organizers and volunteers setting the check points, preparing technical stages and ensuring its safe passage by the teams; they delivered bicycles, rollers and other equipment in the transit zones, preparing food and tea and making everything the athletes could enjoy the beauty and difficulty of the distance, designed by Vitaly Chegarovskiy.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
The families, friends, parents and kids supported the participants for all the 4 days of the race: fed and watered them, helped with equipment and a lot of small things they need to help with. A lot of different factors may influence the race. For example, this year one of the strongest Russian multisport teams Red Fox Adventure Team, the winner of the previous race, had to get off the distance because of breakage their kayak.
Traditionally the teams started in two classes: Long (48 hours this year) and Short (24 hours).
Vitaliy comments: “It depends on whether we have interesting places and their remoteness from each other. The area of the race is not so huge this year, the most beautiful and interesting spots are near the Competition center, so there is no need to make the race area bigger. I’d like to note that 24 hours class this year is a good incentive for those who would like to race, but was afraid of 48 hours of non-stop multisport race. They can participate in the Short class in the race”.
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
However, most of the participants choose the Long class. It started just after the grand opening ceremony. 272 athletes started in this class: 26 teams in Long 4 and 84 teams in Long 2 (32 - MW, 55 - MM). Even 48 hours seemed to be not enough for someone. “We are ready to run more”, - say some teams after finishing, keeping the strength of mind.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
The athletes were in this positive mood during the whole race. The good sunny weather during the first day of the race helped to keep it. Besides, to the end of the first day all the participants were still dry. Normally, just in the beginning of the race they have to plunge into the water and then not dry the next few days, getting into a river or visiting the beavers in search of check points. In this case all came out almost dry even out of the tracking on the swamp.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Ivan Dementievsky
The athletes, accustomed to the “wet” distance by Vitaly Chegarovskiy, can’t help to rejoice at this
- You see, even such a person as Chegarovskiy do understand that this is very unpleasantly to always be wet and get into the mud, - Vitaly himself commented. – If we can drop it and nevertheless to design an interesting distance, it’s great. We don’t need to bathe the athletes across the race. I think, the best way of looking at the race is not to make it extremely uncomfortable.
Photo by Ivan Dementievsky
The distance was really comfort, as far as we can call comfort the 24- or 48-hours multisport race.
The start of Long class was unusual this year. Brand new stage was set up: rollers. It made race more exciting, and not only for the participants, most of them learnt to roller-skate before the Red Fox Adventure Race. Normally, you may see the start of kayaking only from the shore, but this time the supporters got a chance to be in the thick of things. Three hundred athletes on the rollers jumped with the starting signal. At the same time, the cars rushed after the escort team, motorbikes with operators, bicycles on the roadside, - the cavalcade stretched far along the street.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Ivan Dementievsky
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
It was very hard to reach leaders even on a bicycle. Speedo indicated 24-25 km/h on a level road and up to 35 km/h on the slopes. Fours were going in coupling, like a small train. Someone was skating with speed skating, the others with sticks, like on a roller skis.
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
From the very beginning it was obvious: some athletes trained for this stage, but some others mastered it right in the process of the race.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
And if the a dozen leading teams broke out far ahead, the others stretched for many kilometers on the distance. The last teams finished the first circle – roller stage with a trekking loop on the swamp – only by night of the first day. By this time the leaders had managed to drive a large cycle route with technical rope stages and starting a kayak stage.
The struggle between the leaders was harsh. It’s hard to believe, but even in the 48-hours race the seconds were decisive for some athletes. Only 14 seconds divided two teams from Long MM class. While the total time they spent at the distance is 37 hours, 22 minutes.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
25 hours later the class Long has been started, the participants of the Short class was going to begin the race. The first stage here was, as usual, kayaking. Then – bicycle stage, an abandoned airfield, dulfer from a water tower, a ferry, trekking through thickets along the channel, and again a kayak, just not as easy as at the beginning.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Ivan Dementievsky
Photo by Ivan Dementievsky
Photo by Ivan Dementievsky
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Sergey Anashkevich
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
A number of teams – Red Fox Spb Team (Short 4) and three ones in a Short 2 class - broke out far ahead. The arrangement between the latter teams was constantly changing - then one or the other two at the next stage was going out ahead. As a result they all finished one by one with a time difference about 10 minutes. At the same time a gap between teams in Short 4 was bigger: the 2-d and the 3-d ones came to the finis in 4 hours after the winner, getting fewer points for CP.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
An hour after the all teams finished the grand awarding ceremony was held – the final point of XVII Red Fox Adventure Race. Rather, not the point, but exclamation point. Because, as Vitaly Chegarovskiy said right before the start, “A person can live without food a long time, without water – just a few days, without air – just a couple of minutes but we can’t live without Red Fox Adventure Race”.
Photo by Leonid Zhukov
