OREANDA-NEWS. On 1 February 2015, Kandalaksha hosted the Cross-Country Skiing Cup of the TGC-1 Kolskiy Branch, the most popular skiing competition in the polar region. 230 athletes from nine cities and towns of Murmansk Oblast and Republic of Karelia participated in the first stage of the tournament.

“The number of the Cup participants has increased. Other regional cities and towns have joined the tournament, which proves the importance of competitions and the popularity of cross-country skiing in particular”, said Andrey Zharnikov, Director of the TGC-1 Niva HPPs Cascade.

Depending on their age group, the skiers covered a distance of 1 to 5 km. The Kandalaksha team won the mass start race, followed by the teams from Apatity and Kovdor respectively.

“Today the competitions were held on the famous ski run that hosted 30 Soviet and Russian national 50 km and 70km ski races, with many famous skiers participating in them”, remarked Anatoly Holosha, head of the Kandalaksha administration, when summarising the results.

The tournament consists of four stages. The next stage takes place on February 22th in Apatity. The Cup 2015 is held in partnership with Trial-Sport store chain.