Early in the morning of July 28th applicants for participation in the Ural selection round for "Expedition-Trophy 2008" gathered at one of the squares in Ekaterinburg. From the square the participants representing Ekaterinburg, Nizniy Novgorod, Khanti-Mansiysk, Tumen, Surgut, Samara, Perm etc. set off to the gathering place near Kourovka village.

The applicants were delivered to the picturesque bank of Chusovaya River so that they could make the day-off useful for both business and health. When the participants looked around and understood that there are neither Organizers nor any of their representatives at the clearing they looked rather confused. The confusion, though, didn't last too long. Soon enough there appeared... a helicopter. After showing itself for a time, it hovered above the opening while a few objects were thrown down to the ground from its cabin.

It should be noted that the applicants did not hurry to take a closer look at the unexpected "landing", following for a while the mysterious helicopter with their eyes. Thus, the case with the envelopes, addressed to each of the Selection's participants, and the legend with the help of which the participants were to find something that "will help them to form the teams" were delivered to them.

The participants divided into two teams depending on the tactics: one of them was dealing with the route "on the paper", the other one followed the instructions provided by the legend directly. Both of them reached the aim almost simultaneously. It appeared to be a "hide" on the river bank which revealed a food supply for a good picnic for 30 persons! Yes, in such unusual way the Organizers decided to help the applicants to get better acquainted and to create conditions for positive communication.

As a result, two teams were formed just two hours later. The teams were headed by Vyacheslav Fillipenkov, captain of the team-winner of "Expedition-Trophy 2006" and Vyacheslav Bondarenko, veteran of "Expedition-trophy 2005".

The selection round did not come to its end, though. After the captains defined and announced their team membership, they received instructions to find the team task according to which the applicants should cover the minimum of 2000 km looking for the points of Cultural Navigation in both their and the neighboring regions. The teams received the real Cultural Navigation tasks used during "Expedition-Trophy 2006" as a model. This task should check the seriousness of the newborn teams' intentions and their readiness for joint work. Let's wait for results!