Tavrida Race

Mountain Biking and Rogaining in Crimea

Margarita Ukhanova (Tavrida Race) / 21.10.2015

On October 2-4 in the Bakhchisaray region of the Republic of Crimea a new bike adventure called the Tavrida Race was launched.

The competition gathered together athletes from different regions of Russia: from St.-Petersburg to Crimea and from Bryansk to Vladivostok. There were various categories within the race: cyclists could test their skills and endurance in the 48 hour and 24 hour courses and those who love running and walking or orienteering participated in the 24 hour regaining event. For the novice participants there was an 8 hour bike course.

Just like the organizers promised, there were enough adventures for everyone: apart from traditional CPs marked on the map there were satellite images, photo CPs and even a panorama (a photo panorama with the additional CPs was installed on top of one of the cliffs; participants had to identify the position of those CPs to mark them on their maps).

There were photo finishes when the competitors raced parallel to each other and virtually simultaneously crossed the finish line and collapsed just after it; there were breakdowns, some of them were fixed with a help of locals, including with one of the leaders of the race. He was just about to retire from the race after his bike had a serious breakdown when a local, an old man, came up to him and said: “You are young, strong and smart, why do you give up? You should never give up!” He then opened up his trunk where he had lots of different tools and helped to fix the bike.

In the end all the participants got to the finish line, no one retired from the race even from the long course. And at the base camp all the participants were offered hot meals and tea, and those who didn’t have to drive could have a glass of gluehwein.

The winner in the PRO category (48 hours) was team “Udovolstvie” (which means “pleasure”) made up of Kevish M. and Shchedrin A., and in the EXPERT category (24 hour) it was Nagaev A. (Team Chasing Dailight). In the LIGHT category another solo athlete Mishin A. was the fastest as well, and in rogaining the mens team Titov A. and Polishchuk A. from Simferopol gained the most points.

You can find out more about the race at http://www.multsport.ru/starts/tavrida-race-2015/eng-rules.html­