RUSSIA: Russia's novelty watersports season gets underway with a rubber doll rafting contest held near Novosibirsk

Russia's season of novelty watersports got underway with the launch of the "Bubble Buba Challenge" in the Novosibirsk region on Sunday (July 22). The event involved contestants trying to swim a distance of a kilometre using rubber dolls. The idea to use rubber dolls in such an event was conceived as a joke four years ago in St. Petersburg, during a long rafting trip involving only men. Since then the popularity of this new watersport has grown in Russia. On Sunday, some 50 men and women braved strong winds and the rough waters of Lake Obskoe, near the city of Nososibirsk, holding on tight to their rubber partners. The challenge for the contestants was to swim with their rubber dolls towards a buoy and back but with the strong waves not everyone succeeded. "I put on this life jacket for the sake of safety, but it only got in the way," said contestant Roman Shlykov. Another contestant, Olga Mazur, said her rubber doll made for slow swimming, but with the rough waters, it could have been a handy life saver. "Well I could have swam faster without the doll, but anyway if I had sunk it could have saved my life," she said.

ITN Source | July 28, 2007

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