Presenter: He came back a few days ago from the North Pole, with impressions, with friends he made there, with a frozen nose and with the feeling that the Earth’s globe is so small, that the distance between the North Pole and the South Pole is symbolic when it comes to brave people, well-determined people and tenerari. This is Dmitry Voloshin, the promoter of sport, tourism, cycling races, the one with the heart of a child, that’s because cartoon films, and enviable willpower. As I told you a few days ago, Dmitri has set a new record. He finished second in the North Pole Marathon.
Report: After in 2016, the daredevil Basarabian Dmitri Voloshin, participated in the South African ultramarathon through the Sahara desert, covering a distance of 89 km, here he is with a new performance to his credit. In the North Pole Marathon, held in Borneo, the northernmost tip of the globe. In a fierce battle with temperatures down to minus 33, Dmitri beat 58 of the 60 participants, 47 men and 13 women, from over 20 countries around the world to finish second. Here’s what Dmitri managed to say during the race: speech in English. The first to finish proved that history repeats itself. Remember the Greek soldier Philipides, who brought the news of the Greeks’ victory over the Persians at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC to Athens. Philipides then arrived in Athens and uttered “Nikome” meaning “We have won” and died on the spot. Well, the winner of the 2018 North Pole Marathon is Greek Argyrios Papathanasopoulos, who thankfully stayed alive and admitted: speech in English. Our own Dmitri Voloshin therefore came second at the finish line, about 30 min after the Greek athlete, with a digested nose and admitted: speech in English. Dmitri Voloshin covered the 42 km in 5 hours, 3 minutes and 26 seconds. Immediately after the race, he wrote on his Facebook page “I’m second, as unlikely as that sounds. It was incredibly hard, 5 hours through deep snow. I want home!” It should be remembered that the first unofficial North Pole marathon took place on 5 April 2002 and was won by Richard Donovan, who became the first winner of marathons at both poles. And the first official North Pole race took place 5 years later, with only 10 athletes taking part and won by Martin Tighe. Dmitri Voloshin, known for promoting amateur sports and tourism in Moldova, organizing large-scale sporting events, marathons, cycling races, swimming competitions, etc., has provided Veranda with an exclusive and meaningful photo.
Presenter: Dmitri Voloshin, here he is, in the flesh, alive, healthy, whole. His nose is in place. Welcome to us.
Дмитрий Волошин: Hello.
Ведущий: Let’s raise a sparkling glass of Apriori to your success. A glass of baci di bole.
Дмитрий Волошин: To our country, to Moldova!
Ведущий: Please tell me, have you recovered from the story of the North?
Дмитрий Волошин: This competition turned out to be the most memorable for me, because although I have participated in many competitions, I have 60 medals hanging at home, I have never been on the podium. Never and nowhere, you understand? For me, the event itself is a revelation. I’ve been awarded, I’ve been on the podium, which of course is very motivating for me. I understand that I’m not such a fast runner, I’m not a professional. And probably at least a hundred people in Moldova could have run the same way as me.
Ведущий: Maybe even faster.
Дмитрий Волошин: Yes, probably at least a hundred would have run even better. But that’s not the point.
Ведущий: Yes, but not everyone would have the guts to go that way, to withstand the conditions there.
Дмитрий Волошин: Yes, to be able to go and participate in such competitions you need health, willpower and money. When these three elements, then yes, you can participate.
Ведущий: So you are healthy, you are healthy cannon.
Дмитрий Волошин: Definitely.
Ведущий: And you have money.
Дмитрий Волошин: Yes, actually, I already don’t (joking).
Ведущий: Was it expensive? Did this competition cost you a lot?
Дмитрий Волошин: Yes, this is not a cheap pleasure at all. Although I’m not poor, it took me three years to be able to leave without panic spending money. If I were told “Come tomorrow”, I wouldn’t be ready to spend a lot of money so suddenly.
Ведущий: So the North Pole is conquered. The South Pole is still to come. You’ve already conquered the wilderness.
Дмитрий Волошин: Last year I ran the Sahara marathon, 230 in days. Of course, it was harder there, I had my backpack with me, it was also very hot, over 40 degrees. Here the race was short, only 5 hours. It was very difficult from a psychological point of view, because it was very cold. You probably know that I had a little frostbite on my face.
Ведущий: I wanted to ask, is the nose in one piece, are the ears in one piece?
Дмитрий Волошин: Yes, everything is fine with the ears. I can still only feel half of my toe, because I wanted to make it easier for my running, I put on thin sneakers and only one pair of socks, although the organizers told me: ‘Put on two pairs of socks, it will form two layers and it will keep warm, otherwise your feet will freeze. But those are extra weight. The lighter the trainers, the more you run. That’s why I chose minimal weight, ran and froze a bit.
Ведущий: But how can you run in such light shoes in a -30 degree frost?
Дмитрий Волошин: I tell the story: I took two pairs of sneakers, I didn’t know which one would be more suitable. One with big, heavy and narrow toes, and the other, on the contrary, sneakers as wide as two shovels, but for summer. We started the race, ran one kilometre on the track and three kilometres off-road through the snow. The snow was so deep, my feet got caught in the depth. On top of the snow there was a crust of ice, you stepped on it, it broke, your foot fell into the snow: and so poof poof poof, we ran very slowly.
I ran to the tent, put on my light sneakers and started to catch up with the people who were overtaking me. I was overtaken as I was changing shoes, then I caught up. Due to the wide soles, it was easier for me to run through the snow.
Ведущий: What was the most interesting for you?
Дмитрий Волошин: For me, it was very interesting before the race and after the race, because there are people living at the North Pole, Camp Barneo. The Russians come once a year for a month to the North Pole, they come here, they build an airstrip. A plane landed there, tents were put up. This is the only place you can get to the North Pole from. There are helicopters. People are sent there. There are people there living for a month at the North Pole.
Ведущий: How long were you there?
Дмитрий Волошин: I was there for 3 weeks, one of which was at the North Pole. Two weeks I stayed in Svalbard. Two weeks in Svalbard. It was a bit strange when I realized that I was in a closed space, from where you can’t go anywhere, if the plane doesn’t fly, you stay there, where there are polar bears, people with guns, 100 kilos of buckwheat. for a month.
Ведущий: You actually went out there naked, what was the temperature? ( points to screen )
Дмитрий Волошин: – 27.
The runway was bumpy so they told us, “Guys, we’re sitting here all day. We can’t fly anymore.” Then I thought, what, is this day going to pass in vain? I’ve already run a marathon, I’ve already got the strength, so I improvised this kind of triathlon at the North Pole.
Ведущий: Did you freeze?
Дмитрий Волошин: I told them, “Make a hole, at least let me dive.” But they replied, “If there’s no sauna, we don’t make a hole,” which is why a duathlon instead of a triathlon came out. See how dressed up people are there: hooded, with such arms and legs. Also there was a guy who wanted to cycle around the Earth. I mean, you go around the North Pole a few times and out comes the circumnavigation of the Earth. I borrowed his bike and we rode it too.
Ведущий: How were you prepared that way?
Дмитрий Волошин: I was going to go dressed, but I had already undressed. Then I rubbed myself with a little snow. All the runners came out of the tent, the Irish came out drunk, the Greeks were shouting, “Moldovans, are you crazy? What are you doing? Get dressed.” “No, you don’t. I’m ok.”
Ведущий:What were you warming up with? With alcohol, tea?
Дмитрий Волошин: Both with one and the other. Because the Russians sell vodka. Something that costs 2 dollars in our country was 50 euros a bottle. Half a liter of regular Russian vodka. “Damn, guys, why so expensive?” They said, “Look, walk around the market, see?” There isn’t a shop within 1,000 kilometres.
But this atmosphere, this family, you gather together and you know you have nowhere to go, it’s a great feeling. That doesn’t happen in big marathons. You come, you run and you leave. Three days before the marathon I lived with these people, I stayed bed to bed, then three days after. You eat from the same plate, drink the same water.
Their water is salty because they melt snow. The snow has fallen, they collect it, heat it and get water. They collect the snow from the ice, and the ice is salty, because the water underneath is salty, so the water they get is salty too. And salty tea and salty soup – everything is salty. Very specific.
But I’ll never forget this atmosphere, very nice.
Ведущий: Please tell me, to resist the North Pole, I’ve never seen anyone run naked, maybe only in movies, you have to be very well prepared. What do you have to do to prepare yourself? How do you prepare?
Дмитрий Волошин: You really have to get your body used to the cold. In fact, it’s mostly the brain that works on it, not the skin, not the bones. You have to get the brain used to not being afraid of the cold. Once you live a lot in cold conditions, you don’t dress very thick, then your body starts slowly: minus five is normal, I can without a hat, then minus ten is normal, then minus fifteen – without gloves. And slowly, slowly you start to undress.
Thank God my parents live in Orenburg, it’s cold there, it’s -40 in winter. I went to their house this winter and for two or three weeks I kept stripping and running, training in the snow. So by the time I got to Pol and lived on Svalbard for a couple of weeks, I had completely acclimatised, I wasn’t afraid of the cold at all anymore, so I ran without the balaclava, this bottom part, and without a ski mask like most people had. It wasn’t that scary.
Ведущий: Dmitri Voloshin, who conquered the North Pole, a competition that brought together representatives from several countries for the first time, was also surprised, he was on the podium of honour, on the second step, he finished second. A lot of people ask, why are you doing this? What for? Because you’re an extremist, because you like extreme things? Ion Lazarenco is doing this for charity, why are you doing this?
Дмитрий Волошин: Indeed I am often asked “Dima, why do you need this? What do you mean by that? I explain: all my activities in the last five years are mainly aimed at showing people in our country that nothing is impossible for an ordinary person. All the events I organize, 12: marathons, swims, triathlons, all my articles I write on my blog voloshin.md, all my travels – I do everything to show that even if you are a “fat desk jockey”, you work like all people, you can get up and run a marathon. There’s nothing heroic about me, I’m just an ordinary guy, just like everyone else, and what I did, anyone can do. And a lot of people who have walked this path, tried it, have understood that there’s really nothing extraordinary about it, even you can run a marathon at the North Pole without being a professional.
Ведущий: But it still requires special training.
Дмитрий Волошин: Prepare yourself, spend a year training and run. I’m not saying get up and run right now. But you can do that in a year.
Ведущий: Yeah, you’ve given me a lot of work…
Дмитрий Волошин: Watch carefully how the situation in our country changes. A lot of people have started to run, have started to do sports. More and more people are coming to the Marathon, that motivates you, makes you want to go further.
Ведущий: I along with my colleagues were smiling following your Facebook page, watching what was going on, and all the white bear stuff, with the directions they gave you there, what you can, what you can’t, what dangers you had there. Is it true, did you encounter aliens there, white bears?
Дмитрий Волошин: Yes, indeed, before the marathon, they gathered us and gave us a briefing, told us what would happen, where to fall, where not to fall, why to be afraid, why not. First of all, they warned us that despite the fact that along the route there will be people with guns, there is a chance of a polar bear. And if we see him, we really have to change the route and run to the organizers’ tent.
Another danger would be the risk of the ice cracking. Since it’s not winter, but already mid-spring. A crack could suddenly appear in front of you. In such cases you should not have jumped over, but stopped, stepped aside and waited for the organisers to come and decide what to do next. We smiled…
Ведущий: Did you have rations with you?
Дмитрий Волошин: No, there were enough people there, you could pass the information along the chain of people. The crowd would have gathered if they had seen that they were not running. I thought it was a joke. But in fact, the day after the marathon, when we were supposed to fly, we were told that we couldn’t fly, because on the route we had run, a crack had formed and there was now a river there. We went to look, and indeed, the water was a metre thick, a huge crack, 200-300 metres, the airfield had cracked. The Russians went in at night to repair it. They took earplugs, shovels, tractors.
It had only cracked half… but anyway, if the plane had gone through, it would have fallen there, it wouldn’t have worked. They had to build a new one. With the tractors they lengthened the remaining half of the runway by 200-300 meters. It took a day and a half to finish and we could take the plane. Here we were that day we had time for that nonsense in shorts.
Ведущий: Did you make friends there?
Дмитрий Волошин:
Now I have friends all over the world. From South Africa, because I lived there with people in the same room, Poles, Irish, from Austria a showman. And people are all unusual, all interesting, because…
Ведущий: They are not performance athletes?
Дмитрий Волошин: They are more like travellers. Even in this marathon there were people who didn’t necessarily come to run, but because they wanted to see the North Pole. The price for that was more or less right. They walked 4-5 kilometers, then drank champagne and had fun.
Ведущий: Great. The North Pole at your feet, what’s next? Just don’t say Antarctica.
Дмитрий Волошин: We don’t stop, we keep going. I also know how to swim, so in the fall I’m planning a Dead Sea swimming event. I’m not going to say what I have planned yet, but it will be more about swimming, because the running thing, for this year I’ve reached my limit. I’m taking a break from running, starting to train for swimming.
And next year, if everything goes well, I’ll go to Antarctica, see what’s there. I’ve already marked the Earth from above, now I have to go mark it from below.
Ведущий: You have to raise money for this.
Дмитрий Волошин: I’ve already started.
Ведущий: With your cartoon films?
Дмитрий Волошин: No, films don’t bring in money. We make films just to tell the world that there is such a country, Moldova, that makes wonderful cartoons. We are now…
Ведущий: What’s new in your studio?
Дмитрий Волошин: We are currently finishing work on the cartoon ARIPI, Wings of a Dream. About the Moldovan cosmonaut. It will be released this summer, and what makes this cartoon special is that it is made for VR, it can be watched with for VR glasses, and you feel inside the cartoon. You’re not just looking at the screen, you can look around, see what’s behind you, walk behind the character, look at the way his shirt is folded back. You’re part of the cartoon.
This cartoon has at its core, a bit of a sad story. But I don’t want to talk about it now, when it’s released – I’ll tell you, but the cartoon is going to be great. Plus, I’m working, still working on the book about DJi’s Death and the Gypsy.
Ведущий: You’re not done yet?
Дмитрий Волошин: I plan to finish it this year.
Ведущий: Dmitri Voloshin, the one who conquered the North Pole, we are proud of, we wish you success, our partner Baci di Bole sparkling wines…
Дмитрий Волошин: I missed Moldovan wine so much at the North Pole, you can’t imagine. I don’t drink vodka, but there was no wine there.
Ведущий: Look our partner is with you today, we are still waiting for you.
