Red Fox Elbrus Race
A Record Breaking Red Fox Elbrus Race Comes to a Close
Press Release / 09.05.2018
The 10th Anniversary International Festival of Extreme Sports, The Red Fox Elbrus Race 2018 has now finished in the Elbrus region of Russia.
This year, the Red Fox Elbrus Race again broke the record for the number of participants, bringing together more than 400 athletes from 22 countries: Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, Britain, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Latvia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Slovenia, Belgium, Andorra, Finland, Mongolia, and the USA.
More than 388 athletes participated in Vertical Kilometer (Vertical Kilometer® - Mt Elbrus, 2450-3450 m), which is still the biggest race of the festival.
260 athletes got off the mark yesterday in the ascent to the Western peak of Elbrus: 173 in the “Classic” distance (Skyrace® - Mt Elbrus, 3780-5642 m.) while 87 raced from Azau Meadow in the “Sport” class (SkyMarathon® - Mt Elbrus, 2350-5642 m.)
26-years old Austrian Dominik Salcher won the SkyMarathon having seized the lead from the very start, and kept it to the finish line.
Because of the weather conditions, the distance was changed. The race was not to the Western peak of Elbrus, but to the “Saddle”, followed by a descent and finish at the "Barrels".
The decision to change the distance is taken by the high-altitude referees who visit the top early in the morning and can assess how safe the conditions on the mountain are. The decision is passed to the rest of the control point of referees, but Dominik ran so fast that it was only 100 meters before the "Saddle" when he learned that instead of the top he had to run down again. The change in the distance didn’t discourage him, as he says it’s not a problem to run downhill.
Although, as Dominik said in his interview after the race, he was always looking around expecting some to catch up with him, so he didn’t relax and slow down, and right to the finishing line was looking over his shoulder. As a result he completed the route in just 3 hours 29 minutes 36 seconds. [From Azau Meadow (2350 m.) > “Mir” station (3450 m.) > “Barrels” (3780 m.) > Pastukhov Rocks (4800 m.) > Saddle (5350 m.) > “Barrels” (3,780 m.)]
Shyngys Baikashev from Kazakhstan (Red Fox Kazakhstan Team) took second place in 3 hours, 38 minutes, 50 seconds while Vitaly Shkel was just 10 seconds behind him in 3rd.
Maxim Kotchergin won the “Classic” distance (start from the “Barrels”) in a time of 2 hours 53 minutes 44 seconds. Ivan Sadovin took second place with Otgonkhuu Dorjsurenkhor from Mongolia in third.
Oksans Stefanishina (inov8 Team Russia) won the “Sport” distance in 4 hours 35 minutes 25 seconds, Elena Rukhlyada (inov8 Team Russia) came second (4:41:16) and Nadezhda Ermakova (4:51:31) took third place.
In the “Classic” route (starting from the “Barrels”) Nadezhda Korolyatina finished first in 3:30:41, Anna Korobko second (4:02:18) and Polina Nikitina third (4:16:25).
In spite of the difficult weather conditions, 53 athletes, including 10 women finished in the “Sport” class and 92 runners (including 16 women) finished the “Classic” distance.
The International Victory Cup, dedicated to the victory in the Great Patriotic War, was held for the sixth time within the 10th Anniversary Red Fox Elbrus Race. These competitions, where servicemen compete for awards in skyrunning and ski mountaineering, have become a great tradition of the festival.
Vitaly Shkel (3:39:00) became the winner of the VI Victory Cup in the SkyMarathon discipline. Evgeny Markov (3:47:13) took second place and Ilyas Achabaev (4:09:14) third.
The final event of the Red Fox Elbrus Race 2018 was the snowshoeing race - the Red Fox TSL Challenge, which took place today.
In contrast to the high-speed climbing on Elbrus, snowfall is only a plus for participants of the snowshoe race. The more snow that falls, the better for this discipline, but today the athletes ran in the rain!
Preliminary results:
Vitaly Chernov from Irkutsk (Red Fox team) won this race ahead of Evgeny Markov and Dmitry Golikov.
Elena Kravtchenko (Red Fox team) took first place among the women. Varvara Shikanova (Red Fox team) and Elena Rukhlyada (inov8 Team Russia) completed the podium to close the festival competitions.
You can find out all about the Red Fox Elbrus Race at http://www.elbrus.redfox.ru/
You can see a short video clip of the race here.
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