RUN ON THE WORLD’S ONLY MARATHON ICE COURSE LAID BETWEEN TWO OPPOSITE SHORES OF THE PLANET'S DEEPEST LAKE !
Baikal Ice Marathon offers competitors the unique opportunity to race across the frozen waters of the largest, deepest and biotically richest fresh water lake in the world. The Marathon is a part of a larger Lake Baikal winter games festival, the “Winteriad”, which includes also “Baikal Kamchatka” Ice Fishing and Baikal Ice Golf Tournaments, Ice Skating Races and a few other outdoor adventure events.
The surface of the frozen Lake Baikal is covered in fields of ‘hummocks’, small hills of ice rubble. Beneath the ice surface, geothermic springs and seismic activity cause localized melting that weakens the ice to form holes and cracks. Besides, every winter huge ice pressure ridges appear near the marathon course which is flat, but the surface is hard and uneven. Although it is mostly covered in a soft layer of snow, there are areas of highly polished ice that create conditions similar to an ice-rink. Strong winds may often add to the already bitingly cold temperature and provide serious resistance to progress across the Lake.
Baikal Ice Marathon is both psychologically and physically demanding. The utterly featureless landscape gives little or no sense of perspective to competitors, offering them nothing to focus on but how far they are from their goal. It is a long, cold, lonely 42.2 km trail across the barren white landscape, where progress is marked only by checkpoints positioned at 5 km intervals..
Registration for the XV edition of Baikal Ice Marathon in 2019
THE MARATHON ROUTE
One of the world’s toughest endurance challenges
120 Participants from 50 countries
The Record time 02 : 55 : 51 sec
Ice thickness from 1, 20 meter
NEWS
We are glad to announce that next, 15th Baikal Ice Marathon “For preservation of clean water”, shall take place on March 02, 2019. This will be a special edition of BIM and a landmark event alike to Organizers, and will feature a few special festivity arrangements. The Terms & Rules of this unique run on the frozen waters of the world’s deepest lake will be similar with the 14th, on March 07,2018, edition of BIM. However, the cost for the basic package is subject to some increase. On May 10,2018, the 15th BIM edition details and Terms shall be published, and the registration will begin on July 30, 2018. We welcome possible sponsors who can share our nature conservation principles to support this special BIM edition, and shall be ready to send the XV edition of BIM Sposnorship & Partner Details on request.
With expertise in mind we developed Training to Run on Ice specialBIM package to allow people who are physically well fit for running, but lack practical or certified experience in long distance running. This carefully designed package program enables participants to acclimatize in unique conditions of Lake Baikal northern hemisphere. Get prepared to run in the BIM by means of acquiring good load of the Lake’s tremendous energy grid.
Choose from packages below designed for those runners who come to Baikal Ice Marathon travelling a long trans-meridian distance, and prefer to get over jet lag adjusting their body clock well to new time zone of the northern hemisphere ( especially those coming from west) . We noticed that possibility to recover Chrono-biologically after a trans-meridian jet travel provides more opportunities for runners in the BIM to perform well during the run and avoid suffering from piercing Lake Baikal winds
