Alexey Kovalev won the men’s race at Petrov-Vodkin averaging 3:45 per kilometre. Andrey Dolmatov was twelve seconds slower at 3:57, despite running 41.6 km in a single day on 15 September. In the women’s race, Anastasia Andrianova won at 4:16, with Anna Egorova second at 4:44.
Petrov-Vodkin is one of the art races on the league calendar, named after the painter Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin. The format is Multirun: 25 km accumulated over any number of runs between 10 and 30 September, season 263. Once you reach the distance, your average pace sets your place in the standings. In total, 204 athletes logged 690 runs and 5,451 km. Of those, 170 completed the 25 km: 103 men and 67 women.
Finishers can order the medal, featuring Bathing of a Red Horse, within seven days of the race ending. It belongs to a collectible art series in which every medal shares the same design: a black architectural-acrylic body with gold print and the series’ own authentic ribbon.
Kovalev joined the league on the day the race opened. He was far from the only newcomer: of the 204 athletes, 134 signed up between 10 and 30 September, and 111 of them finished. The men’s win went to a debutant — Kovalev’s entire league record is these 26.2 km at 3:45, and nothing else.
Men’s race: twelve seconds Dolmatov couldn’t find
Kovalev reached the distance on 26 September with 26.2 km from four runs — barely over the target, a little more than a kilometre to spare, and even that extra kilometre came at 3:45. On the morning of 14 September he ran 10 km at 3:44. On the 20th, 8.8 km at 3:48. Before his final day of running he had 18.8 km at 3:46, still six kilometres short. He covered them in two short runs: 4.95 km at 3:41, then 2.5 km at 3:47. His average didn’t budge. It was his first finish in the league.
Dolmatov joined a day before the start, on 9 September, and did all his running on the 15th, in two runs. The first was 24.2 km at 4:00, leaving him less than a kilometre short. The second was 17.5 km at 3:54, which brought his average down to 3:57 and his total up to 41.6 km. The extra distance didn’t hurt him — it was faster than the first run. He still ended up twelve seconds per kilometre behind Kovalev, and the gap stayed there for the rest of the month. This was Dolmatov’s first finish too: all 42 km of his league running came on that one day.
Third place went to Alexey Tsvetkov, who did it in a single run: 25.1 km at 4:24, late on the evening of 12 September. He has been in the league since 6 August, ranks 11th overall, and has five finishes and about 625 km to his name. His 90-day average pace is 5:23, so this 25 km was nearly a minute per kilometre faster than his usual running — and good enough for third.
Dmitriy Cherny took fourth at 4:25 with two 12.7 km runs on 21 and 23 September, 25.4 km in total. He is a league ambassador, has been running in the league since late 2024, and has eighteen finishes and roughly 1,320 km in his career. His 90-day pace is 4:17; here he was eight seconds slower, and fourth is where he stayed.
Just behind that top four, the month produced a different way of getting it done. Ilya Kosmach joined the league on the morning of 23 September and ran 46.2 km that same day: 24 km at 4:39 in the morning and 22.1 km at 4:22 in the evening. The second run pulled his average down to 4:31 — once again the extra kilometres were the fast ones — and earned him sixth place, forty-six seconds per kilometre behind Kovalev. Kosmach’s usual pace in recent months is 4:27, so he finished sixth running close to his normal speed, simply packing almost two full distances into one day.
Women’s race: one evening at 3:37, and third place on the final day
Andrianova built her 25 km out of 5K runs. She has been in the league since March 2025; this was her second finish, and 26 of her roughly 40 career kilometres came here. By the evening of 17 September she had 10.4 km at 4:24. That evening she ran 5.43 km at 3:37 — faster than any run of 5 km or longer in the entire race — and pulled her average down to 4:08. Two more 5K runs, on 19 and 22 September, took her to 25.9 km at 4:16. Even without that evening, her other runs averaged 4:27, still faster than Egorova. The 3:37 run stretched the margin to twenty-eight seconds per kilometre.
Egorova joined the league on 6 August. She ranks ninth overall, with five finishes and about 500 km. Her 90-day pace is 6:10; here she held 4:44. On 14 September she ran 21.6 km at 4:43, leaving her 3.4 km short. On the 20th she added 14 km at 4:46 for a total of 35.6 km. She ran those extra ten kilometres at the same pace: they didn’t cost her second place, but they didn’t bring her any closer to Andrianova either.
Ksenia Seregina joined on 11 September, the second day of the race, and finished on the final evening. By the 27th she had 16.1 km at 4:36 — a 1 km jog at 7:45 followed by 15.1 km at 4:24. On the evening of 30 September, a 10 km at 5:12 got her over the line and pushed her average up to 4:50. That left her six seconds behind Egorova and seventeen ahead of fourth place. The slow 10 km earned her the finish at the cost of some pace, and third place was still hers. It was Seregina’s first finish, and all 26 km of her league running came from this one race.
First to finish, and the ones who fell just short
The first to reach 25 km was Anastasia Aksenova, on the afternoon of 10 September — the opening day, and the day she joined the league herself: 25.3 km in a single run at 5:53. On pace, that put her twelfth among the women. Finishing early didn’t decide anything.
Almost half of the month’s kilometres were run in the first week, up to 16 September. Of those who never reached the finish, Anatoly Rudenko came closest: three runs, 24.95 km at 6:33 — fifty metres short. He has been in the league since May 2025 and still has no finish to his name; these 24.95 km make up almost all of his league running.
Pavel Shukalov joined on 16 September and stopped at 24.5 km at 5:21 — 520 metres short. His first run was quick, 10.1 km at 4:33. After that he went out twice for around seven kilometres and logged both as “Easy run.” On pace he was ahead of many who had finished, and he still ended the month without a finish of his own.
Yulia Zaitseva joined on 21 September and wrote after her first evening run: “it was the run I’d been longing for, in pouring rain and good company.” Three runs, 24.7 km, 6:57 pace. She ended up three hundred metres short, and her first race in the league went unfinished.
Elena Lomkova joined in August, a month before the start. She ranks 23rd overall, with three finishes and about 155 km. On 11 September, near the end of a workout, her right leg “gave out.” On the 29th she was back out: “Getting back into my routine after the injury, still some discomfort.” She managed 18 km at 7:00 in total — her usual pace in recent months is around 6:09 — and finished seven kilometres short.
Plenty of those who did make it got there in similar shape. Sergey Khripkov joined on 19 September. On the 26th, still short of the distance, he wrote: “Woke up with a headache and absolutely no desire to go outside. Took a pill, wandered around the flat and realised Petrov-Vodkin wasn’t going to run itself — so shoes, windbreaker, and out the door.” On the 29th he finished with 27.9 km at 6:30. His first finish in the league.
Margarita Ukhlinova joined on opening day, and on the evening of 30 September put in her last 4.4 km: “true to tradition — finishing a few hours before the deadline.” That made 25.3 km at 8:32. Another first finish.
Thirty-four athletes fell short of 25 km. The biggest group was those who joined during the race itself: of 134 such newcomers, 111 finished and 23 did not. Another 23 joined in the first nine days of September, before the start, and 22 of them finished — only one fell short. Seventeen athletes in the results had been in the league since before 2026.
Petrov-Vodkin wrapped up on 30 September, in the same weeks as Hyperdrive 50, which ended on the 20th. The men’s race came down to twelve seconds that Dolmatov couldn’t find, even on his longest day. The women’s race was settled on the evening of 17 September by Andrianova’s 5 km at 3:37. Both winners were runners for whom this month was almost their entire league record. And 170 people earned the Bathing of a Red Horse medal in September the hard way, kilometre by kilometre: in the rain, between marathon races, and on legs that gave out mid-run.
