'Russian Forrest Gump' sets off on journey to Beijng

Starting in Moscow's Red Square, 8,000-km trip celebrates friendship between nations

A Russian athlete embarked on a run from Moscow to Beijing earlier this month to celebrate the thriving relationship between Russia and China.

Described by some as a Russian Forrest Gump, Alexander Kaper set off on March 4 and expects to finish the 8,000-kilometer journey in 200 days.

Kaper says he adjusted his strategy in his second week, scheduling his running depending on the hours of daylight rather than time of day.

"Now I go to bed at sunset and wake up at sunrise. This new strategy will help me to cross the time zones more easily," he says.

Besides running, Kaper updates his social network and his website every day, showing followers his progress and location.

He arrived in Nizhni Novgorod, a city in Volga Federal District, on Mar 15 .

An enthusiastic marathoner, Kaper is famous among fellow runners. He ran through every state and province in Russia over two years and once ran from Samara to Moscow, a distance of 1,500 kilometers.

He says the reason he wanted to run to China is that his hometown is quite close to its Asian neighbor.

"I grew up in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast of the Russian Far East, which shares borders with China's Heilongjiang province, so I'm familiar with China," he says.

"First of all, I want to use the journey as a tool of friendship between Russia and China. Also, I want to visit beautiful places in China, make friends and get a deeper understanding of the country."

"One of the main purposes of the run is also to get to know more about my own country," Kaper says. "I believe the 8,000-km feat can help strengthen the friendship between China and Russia."

Kaper announced the run through his social media account months ago after receiving sponsorship of 9 million rubles ($150,000; 140,760 euros; 123,000) from the Russian government for supporting friendship, communication and promoting youth sports.

To his surprise, more than 2,500 Russian people responded online and asked to participate in the starting ceremony, which involved a short run from Moscow's city center to the nearest town.

Kaper's wife Maria says the journey has been her husband's dream, one for which he has prepared for several years.

"Of course, I will be worried about him after he leaves, but I can't stop him," she smiles, adding that she will give her full support.

"Alex has lots of cross-city running experience but it's unavoidable that he will meet with some mishaps during such long journey. Still, I hope he can avoid injuries, which will delay the whole campaign. Bless him."

Actually, Kaper won't be entirely alone. A camera crew will be going with him.

"I plan to run 40 kilometers per day," he says. "It's not a competition, so I'm not in a hurry."

He plans to cross 16 Russian states and stop at Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, for a day. Then he will run toward the Chinese border and straight to Beijing.

After Kaper arrives at Beijing, a documentary film about his journey will be released in Russian and Mandarin.

renqi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 03/17/2017 page19)