February 13, 2017: Taganrog Open Cross-Country Mountainbike Championship was held February 11-12 in Primorskiy Park. The competition was dedicated to the 157th birth anniversary of Russian writer Anton Chekhov".


Chairman of the local mountainbike association Mr. Sergey Lysenko explained that the event was the beginning of the 2017 season, and due to such heavy weather conditions as snow, ice and mud, the cycling terrain was less difficult than usual.

The total of 5 Russian teams from Taganrog, Rostov-on-Don and Stavropol took part in the competition. Among international participants were teams from Donetsk (Donetsk Peoples' Republic) and Lugansk (Lugansk Peoples' Republic). According to Artyom Pivovarov (Lugansk's team coach), despite the negative impact of hostilities in Donbas, all children's and youth sports school function as before, with young athletes being frequent guests at various international competitions.


Guests from the neighboring Donbas republics didn't go home empty-handed: Anastasia Molchanova (Donetsk Peoples' Republic team) took the top spot in girls' race, while Yulia Vasilieva, Yegor Grabovskiy, Maxim Kalinitskiy and Vladimir Lyogenkiy of Lugansk Peoples' Republic team took other prize-winning places.