The Kamchatka Peninsula traditionally hosts the longest sled dog race in Eurasia. This competition of strength, courage, and endurance features 15 mushers (who drive dogs harnessed to long, narrow sleds). Among them are three brave women. They, like the men, have to overcome 1,300 km. The race began on March 3 and is still in progress — the participants have 357 km left to cover.
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Elena Safonova
The Kamchatka Peninsula traditionally hosts the longest sled dog race in Eurasia. This competition of strength, courage, and endurance features 15 mushers (who drive dogs harnessed to long, narrow sleds). Among them are three brave women. They, like the men, have to overcome 1,300 km from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the village of Tilichiki in the Olyutorsky region. The race began on March 3 and is still in progress — the participants have 357 km left to cover.
Elena Safonova
Beringia is a traditional sled dog race. Its purpose is to preserve the traditions of the indigenous peoples of the North, for whom dogs have always been indispensable helpers in everyday life. After all, many settlements in the area are not connected by road.
Elena Safonova
Beringia was first held in 1990. The route was quite short — only 250 km. But a year later it increased dramatically, and the mushers had to overcome 1,980 km from the village of Esso in Kamchatka Oblast to the village of Markovo on the Chukotka Peninsula, located in the extreme north of the continent.
Elena Safonova
In 1991, Beringia entered the Guinness Book of Records as the longest sled dog race in the world. It has since lost this status because its distance was shortened.
Elena Safonova
The race organizers took the decision to return it to its former status. In 2014, the mushers have to cross 1,300 km, while in 2015 the distance will be over 2000 km.
Elena Safonova
Beringia can safely be described as a unique race. Part of the route crosses totally deserted country, where the distance from one locality to the next is measured in hundreds of kilometers. In addition, the race has a noble purpose: to preserve the traditional way of life of the northern peoples of the peninsula, namely the Koryaks, Itelmens, and Evens.
Elena Safonova
Going back several years before Beringia, the children’s sled dog race “Dyulin” has been held annually. The main prize is a puppy.
Elena Safonova
Kamchatka has its own breed of dog — the Kamchatka sled laika. Unlike huskies, it has brown eyes. Incidentally, some sources say that in the late 19th century the Kamchatka sled laika attracted the interest of US prospectors. Years later in America, through crossbreeding dogs from Kamchatka, Chukotka, and Kolyma, the now world-renowned Siberian husky was born.
Elena Safonova
Mushers treat their dogs in different ways. Andrei Semashkin, a sled-racer from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, chats to each of his laikas before the start. And afterwards, he gives them a paw massage.
Elena Safonova
The youngest musher in Kamchatka is only six-and-a-half years old. Every year the sport attracts more and more children. After all, every child dreams about having a dog. The benefits are not only fresh air and exercise, but also communication with animals.
Elena Safonova
This year the “Beringia 2014” prize fund is nearly 8 million rubles. The winning musher will receive 3 million. That's quite a lot of money, especially for residents of the Kamchatka hinterland, where most of the participants live.
Elena Safonova
Traditionally, the mushers are seen off on their journey with songs and dances. After all, dog drovers need not only luck, but also the goodwill of the ancient gods of Kamchatka.
Elena Safonova
“Beringia 2014” is imbued with local color. Many mushers, despite the technological leaps and bounds in gear for extreme conditions, still use traditional clothing: malakhais (fur caps with earflaps), kukhlyankas (deerskin shirts), and unts (high fur boots). They are made the old-fashioned way out of reindeer fur.
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