The international winter kite-marathon “Trans-Onego” (TOKE) will be held in the republic from 2 to 7 March, the Ministry of Education and Sports of Karelia reports.
Athletes will cover about 270 km. The route will pass through the island of Kizhi, Suisar, the Shardon Islands, the Kondopoga Bay, the Yalgora ski resort, Pyalma, Chelmuzhskaya Bay and Medvezhyegorsk. Start and finish – closer to people – on the embankment of Petrozavodsk.
For the first time, the marathon was held in 2012 in the format of a three-day autonomous race with two separate nights on the ice. However, since 2019, members have asked to change the format to a four-day, three-night format.
Over the nine years of TOKE’s life, the number of participants has grown from six to 32 teams. Teams from eight countries competed in the marathon: Russia, Norway, Finland, France, Sweden, Germany, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Romania.