Traditional dog teams race is starting in Kamchatka

"Beringia -2004", a traditional dog teams race will take place on March 6-21 in Kamchatka (a peninsula in the northwest of Russia's Far East, facing the Bering Sea from the East and the Okhotsk Sea from the West).

According to the information from Beringia's organizing committee, kaiurs (dog-team drivers) from Kamchatka and the Koryak Autonomous District are taking part in the race with the route of 950 kilometers. A total of 16 racers signed in for "Beringia-2004".

The race's track starts at the Esso village (Kamchatka Region) and ends at the Ossora village (Koryak Autonomous District); it consists of 14 laps from 20 to 93 kilometers each. The kaiurs are driving teams of 8-14 dogs.

The competitors will have to drive their teams in extreme conditions. During the races temperature in the area is never higher than -15 C during the day and -25 C during the night. The track's height above sea level varies from 100 to 1,200 meters.

The first "Beringia" race took place in January 1990; since then it has become a traditional one. The route of "Beringia-90" was 250 kilometers long. The routes of "Beringia-91" (1,980 kilometers), and "Beringia-92" (2,044 kilometers) feature in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest dog-team travels in the world.