(Source: http://gorod38.ru/news)

About 150 people from 25 countries took part in Baikal Ice Marathon in March.

The route is sandwiched between two shores of the deepest lake in the world over the depth of 1.5 km. The running started on the eastern shore of the lake-sea in the village of Tankhoy. The runners were welcomed in Listvyanka, at the source of the Angara River.

Fedor Sveshnikov from Moscow, who managed to cross the ice desert in 2 hours 58 minutes, was the first to run classic marathon distance of 42 km 195 this year. He participates in the winter running on Lake Baikal for the third time.

Representatives of Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk were among first three. Almost half of the runners were from abroad. Most of the internationals, – 10-15 people in each team, – came from Japan, UK and Germany. The oldest participant of this year's running, a 72 years old lady, arrived from Germany.

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This time the African continent didn't send its representatives to this extreme running, but participants’ geography spread till Colombia. This year, due to warm winter, laying the route was fraught with specific difficulties: it was postponed six times in compliance with all requirements of the MES. "It took a long time for Baikal to freeze. We had to choose the route with minimum of hummocks, to align this area, to equip each crack with special bridges. The route's main complexity is that clean ice areas alternate with ones covered with snow, so running is not easy, but it makes the track one of the most interesting," the organizing committee reported.

On the whole distance of the Baikal Ice Marathon, the athletes was watched by MES employees, patrolling Baikal on hovercraft: in this part of the lake driving motor transport on the ice is prohibited. In the middle of the lake the runners could stop by an equipped pit-stop to relax and to take a cup of tea.