Erokhin: Follow Dmitry in his trail for peace!

THE FIRST EVER SOLITARY RACE AROUT THE BAIKAL IN 50 DAYS!

Follow Dmitry in his trail for peace!

Dmitry Erokhin, a famous Russian ultra-marathon and trail runner, plans to run around Lake Baikal along the Great Baikal Trail (1800 km long) in 50 days, settling a world record in the speed of the race. Dmitry is a member of an international I Move for Peace movement. The race will be held under the auspices of the Peace and Sport Foundation to support its Friendship Games project.

The main purpose of the race is to attract more attention to and to increase the interest of Russian and foreign eco-tourists in the Lake Baikal region. Not just to remind of recreational potential of the region but to demonstrate that active leisure is more accessible and nearer than one would imagine.

Throughout the race, Dmitry will collect and publish (whenever the mobile services are available) short updates of his journey, which might be of interest to athletes, ecologists, tourists and travelers.

Dmitry’s training for the race began in early March with a 35-day training session in Kislovodsk and then continued in Moscow. Daily workouts increasing physical endurance are envisaged to train Dmitry for running on a complicated terrain. On average, he plans to cover 30-60 km a day in mountainous taiga, mainly off roads and settlements. The task is even more complicated with a large number of water barriers, such as rivers, streams and notches – there are more than 540 of them on the way, so he will have to walk cross such an obstruction every 2-7 km, sometimes neck-deep in the water.

This complicated project asks not only for physical training, but also for a sophisticated technical research. The high speed of running requires as light equipment and minimum storages of food carried by the runner as possible. Wild nature and remoteness from settlements tell on the research provided for the race.

Dmitry Erokhin, an amateur runner

Dmitry, a 36-year-old lawyer from Moscow, made it for running at the age of 26, and since 2006, he has taken part in more than 60 marathons and ultra-marathons all over the world. Among them were Marathon des Sables in Sahara and fund-rising marathon from Moscow to Sochi before the Winter Olympic Games to support the ORBI Foundation in their struggle with strokes. Later on, he took part in a race around Lake Issyk-Kul in Kirgizstan to support a foundation that works with child cancer. Dmitry is an ambassador of the North Face brand in Russia. Being a founder of several projects for runners Dmitry heads the international 100 Marathon club Russia and represents a number of international competitions in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The adventure will start on June 28th with the press-conference in Interfax in Irkutsk. The race itself will start on July 1st in Listvyanka. The planned finish will take place when Dmitry is back to Listvyanka on August 21st, the day of the closing ceremony of Rio Olympics.

You are welcome to take part in the project and support the international Great Baikal Trail race.

A Regional Non-Profit Group: The Great Baikal Trail

The mission of the project is to develop eco-tourism and to cultivate socially responsible society by bringing together volunteers and educational projects.

The main idea of the Great Baikal Trail (the GBT) is to create a system of eco-tourists’ trail, the idea quite new to Russia.

HISTORY

The latest idea of creating a trail around the Baikal was conceived quite logically on the shores of the Lake. At that time in the framework of the ROLL project the Unites States Agency for International Development (USAID) implemented here the Bed and Breakfast and Baikal project. But, this is not the first time this idea comes to someone’s mind. For example, it was voiced by a famous writer, photographer and scientist Oleg K. Gusev, who had worked for thirty years in Barguzinsky Preserve and initiated the creation of Baikalo-Lensky Preserve. After visiting the Appalachian Trail, he realized that such a system of trails might help to preserve the Baikal. An Irkutsk tourist and writer Valentin Bryansky starting from 1970s also promoted the idea to create a ring trail around the Baikal. The project was launched in 2002.

Peace and World Foundation

The Peace and World Foundation was created in the Principality of Monaco under the patronage of His Serene Highness Sovereign Prince of Monaco Albert II.

The Foundation operates all over the world and puts sport and its values as the milestones in the local development projects, provided in the worldwide economic crisis.

Our mission is to develop ecotourism and cultivate socially-responsible society through the organization of volunteer and educational projects.

A goal: Help in the organization of the next Friendship Games

In this region, devastated by ethnic conflicts, Peace and Sport has created youth centres in order to bring these communities together.

Since 2010, youth centres in Burundi, DR of Congo, and Rwanda (since 2012) have met for 3 days each year to compete in sports and official events that symbolize friendship between these 3 countries: The Friendship Games

These 3 days of cultural and sport meetings allow returning to the essential values of sport in these sensitive areas.

The sporting competitions were led by national sports bodies (National Olympic Committees and National Sports Federations) and youth centre leaders.

The Games featured a total of 11 sports for competitions and/or demonstrations:

Football
Athletics
Volleyball
Judo
Karaté
Taekwondo
Table tennis
Table football
Netball
Petit tennis (tennis adapted to younger players)
Disabled sport (goal ball)

The Friendship Games bring children together through sport and convey messages of peace as well as raising awareness about topical issues (HIV/AIDS, environmental protection, etc)