Summer routes

About the tourist rally and not only

On 15-17 July, after a two-year break due to Сovid-19 restrictions, a tourist rally was held on the banks of the Dubna River. The break was the only one - since 1962 the rallies had been held regularly, several times a year and had gathered a large number of participants. The Dubna city club of tourists, founded by JINR staff, was well known in the country. A few years ago, the club, one might say, got a second wind - young, ambitious and vigorous people got to work again, some of them had grown up in the same club. As before, the backbone of the Organizing Committee consists of either the employees of the Institute or members of their families. Anastasia ZLOBINA, secretary of the rally, tells in detail about how the tourist competitions were held and about the club as a whole:

"Every year we spend about a month of our lives on organising and holding the rally. There is a certain standard, we adhere to it, but every time we try to diversify the program and introduce new elements. The tracks never repeat."

"Let's start with general things - what disciplines are there in these competitions?"

"Day and night orienteering, walking in azimuth. However, we do not hold night kayaking race every year. An obstacle course that includes various types of rope crossings. Bivvy - when one needs to stretch an awning, build a fire, boil water. Knowledge of knots and the ability to knit them is assessed separately. And there is the water part - the passage of the water route with the performance of tasks."

"What are the highlights of this year's program?"

"This time we combined night orienteering with a night race. The participants started on Friday, around 11:00 PM, from the village of Karmanovo. They were supposed to raft down the Sestra and Dubna rivers. In addition, checkpoints (CP) were placed along the entire route, composters were placed and it was necessary to collect all the marks on the route sheet. In addition, daytime orienteering became more difficult - it was carried out in the form of a rogaining. Each CP is assigned a certain number of points, depending on the difficulty. The participants had not just to move around the map in search of the next checkpoint, as before, but to create their own program for passing the route in order to score as many points as possible before the control time expired."

"Tell us please how the water part is carried out - the technique of water tourism."

"This part of the rally is held by canoes, catamarans and kayaks. Competitions are held on the Dubna River. The rowers pass through the forward and reverse gates, then move to the buoy, go ashore. Here one needs to make a run-out - move the vessel on the riverside along the marked area. Next comes the tossing of the carrot..."

"What do you mean?"

"The throw bag of Alexandrov is called a carrot. When the ship capsizes on the river, they throw a rescue bag to people in the water, pull them out and thus save them. The throw bag looks like a carrot that is why it is the name of this task. The carrot must be thrown carefully to get between the gates, otherwise, in real life the crew will sail past and it will not be possible to save it."

"Do teams or individuals compete?"

"Crews compete in the water stages, teams of four people participate in the hiking technique. In orienteering, they run in the individual competition, youngest participants are allowed with their parents. All results are calculated. Each discipline has its own three winners - gold, silver, bronze. There is an overall winner of the rally. This year it is "The Flexible Hedgehogs" team, consisting of: Yury Gorbachev, Valentin Vlasov, Dmitry Yakubov and Olga Taskaeva."

"To your mind, were there many participants this year?"

"At this rally, 89 starts were given. The start can be for a participant, a team or a kayak crew. In addition, a participant can compete in various disciplines. Participants from the Abris club (Korolev) came to us this year, we are friends with them, go hiking together. In total, according to our estimates, 150-200 people visited the clearing in three days."

"Judging by the poster, there were also children's and cultural programs ..."

"Yes, there were songs around the fire, a creative competition, famous tourists in our city and performers of original songs came - the Nekrasov family with an excellent concert, the tourists from Korolev showed a theatrical performance. It rained, but it didn't spoil the mood. In general, if to talk about something new, this year we finally got lucky with the weather. Previously, rallies were very often held in the pouring rain. The children's program started up in a new way, Olga Kuldoshina was engaged in it. A short rope track was made for children, it was necessary to overcome it with insurance. The children passed the stage under the supervision of a group of parents. In addition, they were taught to understand plants and knots. A quest was prepared for them with notes, they ran all over the clearing with a map, found a treasure - a chest full of sweets and a bunch of pencils and they drew a picture together. Borsch was cooked on a fire, everyone could taste it. The children were delighted."

"Nastya, tell us about your young team of organisers, about your future plans, please."

- With our team, we have started holding events since 2016. First it was in Kozlaki, a year later we moved to a clearing near the Dubna River and have held all our events there to this day. Vyacheslav Shilov, Georgy Sedykh, Vasily Semin, Maksim Bychkov, Alexey Kurilkin, Pavel Kurilkin, Evgeny Gorbachev and many others make up the main part of our group from JINR. Besides them, Vladislav Surmach, Ruslan Gakame, Olga Taskaeva, Yury Gorbachev, Olga Kuldoshina and many others work with us in the team at each rally. In 2019, our tourist rally received a grant from the Governor of the Moscow Region and we updated sports equipment for competitions. We intend to reach the regional level so that sports tourists from other cities come to Dubna. I have already mentioned the Abris club from Korolev. They organise various trips, including those of the highest category of complexity and also conduct water tourism schools headed by the USSR Master of Sports, Honored Traveler of Russia Valery Galedin. With their support, in 2021-2022, we held a water tourism school for beginner and basic levels in Dubna, where about 20 people studied. Today, Maksim Bychkov leads hikes up to the 6th category of complexity, Georgy Sedykh - up to the 5th. Of course, we are talking about sports tourism - with backpacks, rapids, portages, climbing heights and so on. We cooperate with the Federation of Sports Tourism of the Moscow Region. Just recently, me and several members of our club have been awarded new sports categories. Maxim Bychkov and Aleksey Kanaev have become candidates for master of sports. We are very eager to hold a regional rally and return mass character and fame to our city club. Vyacheslav Shilov and other founders of our club said that in the 1960s and 1970s several hundred participants came to Dubna for rallies.

"You once mentioned that you buy equipment with your salaries and today prices have shot up. Do city organisations help you, in particular, in holding a rally?"

"Yes, sure! And we are very grateful to them. The young people from AYSS JINR help and also participate. Special thanks to Chairman V. Rozhkov. Young scientists helped us with the purchase of equipment and prizes, printing maps, published information about the rally in social networks. The city administration allocated medals, cups, prizes and provided information support. The young people from the tourist club "Belyakov and company" helped a lot. Firewood was brought from Ecofurniture company. The employees of the Druzhba club that are engaged in children's tourism in our city also were very helpful."

"My last question is about events in the near future where you would invite the citizens of Dubna."

"In September, we will hold the annual water tourism competition Lifebuoy 2022 on the lake in the Family Recreation Park. This will be followed by the annual autumn departure for cranberries and in winter we intend to hold an evening, where Dubna tourists in a solemn atmosphere will be able to present photos and videos about perfect hikes and travels in 2022. In my opinion, there are enough tourists and those who are interested in this sport in Dubna. And we always welcome new people. We also invite young scientists of the Institute to join our events!"

The material was prepared by Galina MYALKOVSKAYA,
photo from the archive of the club