Race or not the Race
Is that "Elbrus Race" or just a race - that is a question...
A few new sport events with names cloning theme “Elbrus Race” arose recently. It looks as those 2 simple words (Elbrus & Race) have some sort of magic power indeed!
How to understand in that situation where is original Elbrus Race? Where all absolute records of Elbrus speed ascent had been established? Where there is originated since1989 a meeting point where young ambitious climbers could compare its ability with one of mountaineering celebrities of modern time and the past?
Coming autumn (September 20, 2013) the eighth time Elbrus will host the competitions in speed ascent - the international Elbrus Race. It was created by outstanding athletes-mountaineers, and it can boast of participation of many famous climbers
It was born at the initiative of the great athletes-mountaineers, and can boast of participation of many famous climbers. The first Elbrus race was organized in 1989-90 by legendary Vladimir Balyberdin supported by such mountaineering "monsters" as Anatoly Bukreyev (1989, 1 h 47 min from Prijut11 to East top), Valery Hrishaty (1989, 2 place on the route from a Prijut 11 to East top), Alexander Shejnov (1989, 3 place of Prijut 11 to East Top), Vladimir Shopin (organizer), Elena Kuleshova (1989, 1990, director of the race), and many others...
In 1990 the foreign climbers participated in Elbrus Race: Kevin Cooney and Patrick Healy (United States)
Unfortunately, Vladimir Balyberdin's death on 1994 interrupted a series of these annual competitions for very long. Up until 2005, when Top Sport Travel company and climbing information server Russianclimb have revived the tradition of annual autumn races to Elbrus top. In new format the route started from Barrels (3708 m) with the finish on the Western top (5642 m).
During 7 previous launches (2005-2012) many records were set on Mount Elbrus in International Elbrus Race.
At the second year of the development (2006) the race was enriched by the additional format: beside the classic route from Barrels to Elbrus, “Extreme class” was launched with start at Azau Meadow (2400 m). So, the strongest athletes were able fight on this truly extreme distance!! A striking result had been showed by Kazakhstan mountaineer Denis Urubko: from Azau to the Western top he ran 3hrs 55 min 58 sec! It was a sensation. And his teammate from Almaty Svetlana Sharipova has established the women's record at the route from the Barrels, which valid till now: 3 hrs 21 min 29 sec. This is so far the absolute female record in speed acsent of the highest point of Europe from the Barrels.
The male record on that route was set by Andrew Puchinin (2 hrs 46 min 09 sec).
In 2007-2008 the previous records wasn’t broken.
In 2009, on the route Barrels - West top the athlete from Rostov-Don Valentin Vergilush has set a new men's record: 2hrs 36 min 02 sec. For that remarkable result Valentine was nominated for the State Award "Proryv (Breakthrough)" In addition to Valentine, the two athletes improved Andrew Puchinin's time: Anton Proshenko from Omsk (2 hrs 43 min 10 sec) and Mikhail Klimov (2 hrs 45 min 46 sec).
At 2010, the International Elbrus Race again created the sensation: young pole Andrzej Bargiel made the seemingly impossible: he managed to improov Denis Urubko’s record time by more than half an hour, running from Azau to West Elbrus top, and showed the result 3 hrs 23 min 37 sec!
This is so far the absolute speed record ascent on Mount Elbrus from Azau
In the same year the route Azau - West top was firstly run by girls!
These were two very strong competitors – Maria Khitrikova from Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) and Aleksandra (Ola) Dzik (Poland). Ola came to the finish line at the top for 5 hrs 04 min 51 sec, which was the women's track record.
On the Classic route Andrew Puchinin Barrels improved his own time and set the new record: 2 hrs 34 min 33 sec!
After an enforced break in 2011 (because of the situation in the Caucasus), at 2012 the International Elbrus Race was once again with fresh records: Anton Proshenko from Omsk, won the competition on Barrels-west top route, showing time 2 hrs 28 Min 02 sec! (this is so far the absolute speed ascent record on Mount Elbrus from Barrels). Kazakhstan mountaineer Aggei Skopin reached the finish just after him: his time was 2 hrs 31 min 35 sec!
The annual International Elbrus Race competition will be held on September 20, 2013 . Among the applications there're already cast athletes from 10 countries. There are applicants for new records on both route! The competition promises to be colorful and exciting, a real sport's feast-day!
General sponsor of the competition, as before, the NPF BASK.
The organizers are TOP SPORT TRAVEL company and RussianClimb