On February 21, the Beringia international multi-day dog sled race will start at the Vitaly Fatyanov Biathlon Center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the press service of the Kamchatka Territory government reported.

"The organizing committee decided at a regular meeting to hold a festival devoted to the opening of the 2016 Beringia race on February 21. This is the first day of the three-day weekend, so if the weather is unfavorable, we'll move the opening to February 22 or 23," said Alexei Voitov, chairman of the organizing committee and deputy chairman of the local government.

He added that the opening will include a prologue race and the Dyulin children's race, which will involve over 40 young athletes.

"This year's race will be the longest in the last 20 years. We've slightly extended the route by adding a section from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Milkovo through the Nalychevskaya Valley. The route is difficult, and mushers will have to cover almost 1,400 km. Seven mushers have already confirmed their participation," Alexei Voitov said.

The first Beringia dog sled race took place in January 1990.