Men’s Health Urban Adventure
The first Men’s Health city adventure race was held at Poklonnaya Mountain on June 13.
The long-awaited competition was quite successful. Participants formed 103 teams consisting of a total of 206 people and registered on the specially created site to take part in the competition. Teams included both professionals and amateur athletes who competed in this type of race for the first time. The teams were divided into two categories: M+M and M+W.
The athletes had to traverse approximately 27 kilometers (16.7 miles). The course was divided into four stages: roller skates, bicycle, trekking and bicycling again. The teams had to navigate with the use of a map and find 42 checkpoints along the route. One of the checkpoints was located on an updated version of the Toyota RAV4 automobile (a partner to the Men’s Health Adventure program). Participants also had to complete a paintball-type shooting task and finish the entire course within four hours.
The truly extreme weather conditions – 30-degree Celsius heat followed by 15 meter-per-second winds and pouring rainfall – created excellent conditions for the participants who had decided to challenge themselves and prove that they could go the distance. Almost all of the teams reached the finish line, and most of those made it within the four-hour limit.
Upon seeing the exertions made by the participants, the Gore company – partner to the event – increased the number of prizes it was offering, ultimately awarding sets of Gore Running Wear to each of the teams that placed.
Winners in the M+M class were:
First place – the Bright Path team of Pavel Demeshchnik and Sergei Romanenko. The men both won a set of Gore Running Wear clothing, plus the grand prize: an all expenses paid trip for two to the most famous marathon of Europe, the Gore-Tex Transalpine Run to be held in the Alps from September 4-11, 2010.
Second place – the Nike team of Ivan Petrov and Yevgeny Rogatnev. For staging a good fight for the finish, the team won two wrist-mounted Suunto T3 sports computers with heart rate monitors, a set of Gore Running Wear, passes to the PhysCult fitness club and Davidoff Adventure men’s fragrances.
Third place – the Vaska Headlight team of Ivan Yuzmin and Grigory Alexandrov won a set of Gore Running Wear, Davidoff Adventure men’s fragrances and passes to the PhysCult fitness club.
Winners in the M+W class were:
First place – the Arena-Craft/MEI team of Alexei and Vera Ponomarov.
Second place – the Chasing Daylight team of Andrei Stepanov and Anastasia Rostovtsev.
Third place – the Bzyk team of Alexander Drugov and Nina Sergeyeva.
The winners received six month passes to the PhysCult chain of fitness centers, sets of Gore Running Wear and Davidoff Adventure fragrances.
All winners in both categories also received one-year subscriptions to Men’s Health magazine.
Next year, two Men’s Health Urban Adventure races will be held – in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
