Press Release
2015 RED FOX ELBRUS RACE VII
Russia's Annual International Festival of Winter Extreme Sports
Mt. Elbrus, 30 April – 7 May, 2015

From April 30th to May 7th, 2015 the VII International Festival of Winter Extreme Sports Red Fox Elbrus Race will be held on Mt. Elbrus (5642 m) in the Caucasus mountains, one of the most beautiful places in Russia. The festival is organized by the Red Fox company with support of the Russian Mountaineering Federation, EMERCOM of Russia, and the Government of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic.

The festive Red Fox Elbrus Race has steadily increased in popularity with ever increasing numbers of participants and countries represented. It attracts some of the world’s strongest skyrunners, mountaineers, and ski mountaineers from several countries and is supported by the Russian Skyrunning Association, International Skyrunning Federation, and International Ski Mountaineering Federation. In past years every athlete struggled to deal with the altitude and unpredictable weather of Mt. Elbrus as well as competitors which makes this weeks events exciting for the participants and viewers on the sidelines.

This year won’t be any different. The caliber of international, professional athletes promises to set many new records. Athletes from Russia, Poland, Germany, Spain, Japan, Mongolia and Belarus have already registered including the leading skyrunners of the world.

Under the aegis of the 2015 Russian National Skyrunner Series® one of the central skyrunning events will take place: the Vertical Kilometer®, an uphill run from 2450—3450 m on Mt Elbrus will serve as a qualifier race at the international level, and simultaneously as the Russian Skyrunning Championship. Over the last few years the Elbrus Vertical Kilometer®, as well as the Mt. Elbrus SkyMarathon®, was included in the Skyrunner® World Series. This year points scored in the Vertical Kilometer® will be considered for ISF international rankings. After the Russian Championship the strongest athletes will be selected to represent Russia in the Skyrunner Championship of Europe.

The main event of the festival is a high-speed run to the West Elbrus peak (5642 m). According to past tradition, it will run in two classes to give professionals and amateurs a chance to compete in a speed ascent of Europe’s highest peak:
- Sport class starts from the Azau Glade (2350 m). This is part of the 2015 Russian National Skyrunner Series®, the Mt. Elbrus SkyMarathon® and the 1st Stage of the Russian Skyrunning Cup.
- Classic class starts from the Barrels (3780 m). This is the open Skyrunning Championship of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic.

The race that will draw the greatest interest will be the sport class high-speed run to the peak of Mt. Elbrus. A hot battle is expected in the skyrunning discipline. Marco Fachinelli is one of the world’s leading sky runners. He won the Red Fox Elbrus Race in 2013 with a time of 3:30:46 (h:m:s). However, Vitaly Shkel holds the record in the high speed run to Elbrus’ west peak with a time of 3:28:41. Who wins this time and maybe set a new skyrunning world record?

This year the Russian Ski Mountaineering Championship will be held, and there will be four Ski Mountaineering races: a vertical, solo, relay and team races that are part of the ISMF European series.

The Red Fox TSL Challenge snowshoe race will be a colorful ending to the festival. In past years all festival competitors, including referees, organizers and media representatives, will participate.

In the last decade the Red Fox Elbrus Race is a unique festival of winter extreme sports that has became an annual holiday for outdoor enthusiasts. Red Fox invites you to participate in this exciting, one of a kind international event!

We are waiting for you on the Red Fox Elbrus Race 2015!



Festival organizer - Red Fox

Red Fox Elbrus Race Festival Director - Eugeny Kolchanov, cell. +7 (962) 705-29-50, e-mail: elbrus@redfox.ru

Chief Referee - Nikolay Zakharov

PR & media: Irina Kirchenko, e-mail: Ira-RF@yandex.ru, irisha@redfox.ru; Julia Dmitrieva, e-mail: julia@redfox.ru

Official website: www.elbrus.redfox.ru

The festival is supported by:
Russian Mountaineering Federation
EMERCOM of Russia
Government of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic
Russian Skyrunning Association
International Skyrunning Federation



Photo: Konstantin Dikovsky, Aygul Lotfullina, Irina Kurmanaeva, Natalia Lapina, Julia Davydova, Nikita Skorokhodov