11th World Rogaining Championships 2013 Russia - announcement
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"17.05.2011 - Russia awarded 11th World Rogaining Championships
Russia has been awarded the 11th World Rogaining Championships in an announcement from the International Rogaining Federation. The championships are planned for 27-28 July 2013, and will attract several hundred elite cross-country navigators from all continents. The site selected is the Pskov region, Pustoshka district, Alol village which is 500 km west of Moscow and 400 km south of Saint-Petersburg.
IRF President, Neil Phillips, said that this will be the first time that Russia has hosted the World Rogaining Championships. Rogaining in Russia started in 1998 with a 24 hour rogaine in the Perm area under the leadership of the late German Shestakov. The sport has since grown such that there are now 50 rogaines each year of which seven are 24 hour rogaines.
The first Russian Rogaining Championships were held in the Perm region in August 2001, with subsequent championships near Nizhny Novgorod in 2005, 2006 in Tolliatti, 2007 and 2009 St. Petersburg region, 2008 Moscow region and 2010 Pskov region. Other rogaining centres include Ekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, Kostroma and Krasnodar. The first European Rogaining Championships were held in 2003 at Perm, and the 5th ERC at St Petersburg. The Russian Rogaining Championships for 2011 will be near Chelyabinsk.
It is characteristic of the sport of rogaining that champion competitors are also willing volunteers, and the leading organisers for the 2013 World Rogaining Championships include several outstanding cross-country navigators led by Alexey Nikitin and Alexey Layshev of Pskov, and Alexander Yakimov and Sergey Yashchenko of Moscow.
IRF Promotion and Development Manager, Alan Mansfield, who leads the whole selection process for World Rogaining Championships, said that the award to Russia was very fitting given the strong growth of the sport in so many centres, Russia’s strong support for international rogaining, and their involvement at previous international rogaines. Russian rogainers have proved themselves to be extremely competitive in World Rogaining Championships including in semi-desert of Australia and forests of Estonia. At the 8th World Rogaining Championships in 2008, the Russian team of Evgeny Dombrovskiy and Pavel Shestakov won the overall championship in a field of 800 participants. The current World Rogaining Champions are Chris Forne and Marcel Hagener from New Zealand, and Russian rogainers are sure to test the New Zealanders on Russian soil."