KRASNOYARSK, March 25 (RIA Novosti correspondent Boris Ivanov) – A ski trek devoted to the 60th anniversary of the World War II victory started early on Friday from the Arctic settlement of Dikson on the Kara Sea coast, according to the Taimyr autonomous area’s press service.

Eight local athletes, two women and six men, accompanied by a small off-roader support group, will cover 722 km to reach the area’s capital of Dudinka.

Nikolai Petukhov, head of the settlement, said that the skiers would leave as soon as they had visited the local museum and toured Dikson, which had been the country’s easternmost place where battles with German troops took place. Trying to paralyze the movement of cargo ships along the Northern sea route, Germany sent the Admiral Scheer cruiser to Dikson in August 1942 and even tried to land. But Lieutenant Kornyakov’s howitzer battery deployed in the settlement, seriously damaged the ship and forced its retreat.

After a one-minute silence at the grave of soldiers killed in the battle, the skiers would start their long southward journey.

They are expected to reach their destination on April 17, on the day when Taimyr, Evenkia and the Krasnoyarsk territory will hold a referendum on becoming a single constituent member of Russia. On Thursday, the skiers arrived in Dikson with clothing and food supplies from Dudinka on the Taimyr icebreaker.