In the Irkutsk region, Zimniada starts, a winter games festival that will bring together more than 1000 participants from Russia and 24 foreign countries. The program includes the Baikal Ice Marathon, a music festival on Baikal ice hummocks, horse competitions, ice golf, kiting, ice fishing and other unusual events on Lake Baikal. The festival, held from February to March, has already become a notable regional brand and helps develop year round tourism.
more than 1,000 people from the Irkutsk Region, regions of Russia, as well as foreign countries – Italy, the USA, Belgium, Switzerland, Mongolia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Slovenia, Greece, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Japan, Korea, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Canada, and Mexico, will take part in the festival.– The main goal of “Zimniada” is to popularize and develop year-round tourism in the Angara region, and to promote active forms of winter recreation. Over the years of its existence, the festival has become a recognizable brand of the Irkutsk Region, which contributes to the formation of a tourist flow to the region, the volume of which in the winter and spring months has increased by an average of 20% and in 2012 amounted to 181,600 people, including 7,700 foreign tourists. In total, 10 events will be held as part of “Zimniada,” most of them with international status, – said the head of the Irkutsk Region tourism agency.
On February 23, the ski sports expedition “Winter Shumak” will start from the settlement of Samarta. The festival program includes one of the 20 most unique races on the planet – the Baikal Ice Marathon “For the Preservation of Clean Waters.” This is a classic marathon distance (42.195 km) across the ice of Lake Baikal, crossing the lake from the western shore to the eastern shore. This year, representatives from 22 countries will take part in the marathon.
For the first time, the music festival “Baikal Music Ice” has been included in the “Zimniada” program. The event involves professional and amateur musicians who will create music on the Baikal hummocks. The event will take place on March 16 in the area of Olkhon Island (Khuzhir settlement, Small Sea).
The “Zimniada” schedule includes competitions in forest sports on snow-covered ground, and an ice golf tournament. At the racetrack in Irkutsk, equestrian competitions in show jumping and skijoring (pulling skiers and snowboarders by horse) will be held from March 1 to 3. 10 equestrian sports clubs will take part in the tournament. The Baikal festival “Sarminsky Squall” will take place near the village of Sakhyurta (MRS) in the Olkhonsky District of the Irkutsk Region. The event will feature kiting competitions, bike trials on ice, ice climbing, a speed skating marathon, and a jeep rally across the Tazheran steppe. In addition, a concert of author’s songs and a competition of drawings on the ice of Lake Baikal are planned.
From March 23 to 24, the traditional ice fishing championship “Baikal Kamchatka-2013” will take place on the Small Sea, in which more than 60 teams from many regions of Russia will take part. The final event of “Zimniada” will be the pedestrian touriad “Sacred Ice of Baikal,” which will start on March 23 in the settlement of Kurma (Olkhon Island), with the final in the settlement of Sakhayurta (MRS).
As a reminder, the first International Baikal Festival of Winter Games “Zimniada” was held in the Irkutsk Region in 2003. Traditionally, the festival is held in the region from February to March.
Based on materials from the press service of the Government of the Irkutsk Region