Longing for more

Yuri Borodulin, 46, the owner of a building company in Saint Petersburg.In 2005 he undoubtedly became the best Russian multi-sportsman. For the last 3 years Yuri has taken part in over 20 races and has won many impressive victories. In September 2005 he participated as a Russian team member in the adventure race world championship (the Raid), which was held in Chamonix, France, and reached the finish of a terrible route…

....The route was laid through the territories of France, Italy and Switzerland. It wove its way through the most beautiful, mountainous parts of the Alps, glaring in the sunlight. The Russian team of 4 people surmounted the 570 km of the route, at its highest point 25 km, in 6 days. During that period they did not have more than 24 hours of sleep. The rest of the time they spent cycling, rafting, rock-climbing, abseiling and crossing mountain ridges along the paths of via-ferrata route. Their aim was to survive and to reach the finish… Yuri Borodulin was one of the chief navigators of the team.

– How did extreme activities begin in your life?

– I don’t think that I often meet a really extreme situation during multi-races. I guess this happens because I am quite old and experienced. In my view, real “extreme activities” must be linked with a risk to life, something like jumping off bridges, towers and planes, or deep-water diving, or swimming unaccompanied for many kilometers… Adventure races are not that dangerous.

I began as a hiker while at university. There was a hiking club and I had very good teachers who taught me a lot about this sport. After the university I took up orienteering. I devoted the majority of my sporting life to it. My results were quite average – I became a master of sports of the USSR.

Not long ago it happened that I took up adventure racing. And in this all of my previous sporting skills were combined: a knowledge of orienteering and hiking, stamina and experience.

– How did you go into business?

– After the break-up of the Soviet Union every more-or-less enterprising person tried to start their own business. Then “Perestroika” began. And people started rushing around changing one work place after another. New companies appeared and collapsed. Eventually, after trying several jobs, my friends and I started working for a building company.

And when the firm went bankrupt in 1996, I decided to open my own building company. The reason I do business is to support my family and relatives. I do not want to expand or develop my company as I would have to stop spending time on my hobbies. And I do not like that idea.The small company that I have answers all my requirements. I have to meet with customers, check project documentation and supervise the building process itself. Of course, I must be up on all the news in the field of building and technology.

– Do you lead two different lives or is it one, although varied, life?

– It happens that my hobby is my main interest in life, and my business life is necessary to support my hobby. But, certainly these two sides of my life are interrelated.

Many people now just cannot afford to have a hobby, because they do not have either the time or the money.

– If you had to choose between your hobby and work what would it be?

– If I had to do a choose between business and sport I would prefer business. I take my responsibility to my family very seriously, and this is the most important thing in my life. The rest of my life belongs to sport.

– Do you have more friends in business or in the sport?

– I have almost no friends in business. My friends are either from my childhood and youth or from sport.

– What, in your opinion, do business and sport have in common?

– There is one common thing – striving to achieve the goal set. But the mode of behaviour is absolutely different. When I am a businessman I try to cater for the needs and requirement of my customers, while in sport it is vice versa, I dictate conditions to myself and to my team mates

– In which sphere are the feelings of victory and defeat more acute?

– When it comes to business I am not an ambitious person, it is just a way to make money. But in sport I always long for more.Being a mature person I take my defeats philosophically. They are inevitable in life. But still if they happen because of my own imperfections or mistakes I can get very upset.

– How does your leadership in business help you in your extreme activities?

– I, definitely, have become more self-controlled. My actions and words are better-weighed up and considered.

– What is your management style in business? And in sport?

– The style is the same. In both spheres I try to be energetic, self-restrained and determined.

– What could you wish for our readers?

– Rate priorities in your life according to your desires, but do not forget that they should not interfere with the desires of those you love. And try to interest your friends and family in what you do.

Do not live somebody else’s life. And the best situation is when your job is your hobby. Live today, but do not forget about tomorrow, as life is so unpredictable and people are so fragile.

Do not try to keep yourself fit medically – as soon as you start living a healthy energetic life your health will come back to you. A person is tempered in hardships and misfortunes. Take care of your friends, try not to lose them.