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Kiting across the Finnmark plateau

64 kiters from seven nations are taking part in the Varanger Arctic Kite Enduro 2012, a long-distance snowkite race that runs 200 km from Berlevåg to Vardø in Finnmark, Northern Norway.

Location

The first team to reach the first check-point and consequently to win the 22 km sprint, was “Siberian Bears” from Russia, with Alexander Palekhin and Roman Lyubimtsev on the team.

Kiting
The race started from Berlevåg on Tuesday and the last teams are expected to reach Vardø on Saturday. (Photo: VAKE)

To start in the nearly 200 km long race, participants must “be in extremely good physical shape, have excellent kiting skills and know how to survive out in arctic winter conditions”, VAKE’s web site reads. Each team consists of two people, and they have to kite together the whole time.

Participants must bring the necessary equipment to survive outside in Arctic winter for a minimum of 5 days. Each team must navigate from the start to the finishing line via a few checkpoints.

This year’s participants come from Norway, Czech Republic, Russia, Canada, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Great Britain.

Last updates are found on the tracking page and Twitter @vakefinnmark.