Regional report
Ready to take a sporting chance in the Urals?
CMW EDITOR PAUL COLSTON SPOKE AT THE RECENT MICE DAY IN THE URALS EVENT, IN EKATERINBURG,
AND THEN EXPLORED THE REGION’S PARTICULAR SPORTING OFFER FOR EVENTS
katerinburg is probably most
famous as the place where
the last Tsar and his family
were shot. It is also the home
city of Boris Yeltsin, the Russian
Federation’s first President.
Now the Urals industrial powerhouse
city is leading a charge into the MICE
arena, with a nice sideline in sporting
venues.
The recent Urals Region #MICEDay
event gathered industry professionals from
home and abroad, who got to see first-hand
how Russia’s fourth biggest city is reaching
for the skies in many ways – not least as the
new home for skyscraper technology and
construction (check out the Vysotsky
Tower which also houses a hotel).
Russia’s first President’s legacy is firmly
in place at the Yeltsin Centre, a sort of
shopping mall meets museum and
conference centre.
Just a few metres walk from the Hyatt
Regency, the Yeltsin Centre certainly
provides a talking point and is an evocative
backdrop to any event, not least because
one of the former President’s limos sits
parked inside the entrance.
For five-star clients, The Atrium Palace,
is available and has a conference hall able to
host 200 delegates theatre style.
New goals
The Ekaterinburg Arena was one of
Russia’s host venues for the successful
FIFA World Cup in 2018 and a tour of the
facility includes a chance to sit on the locker
room seat used by Paul Pogba.
With Russian football crowds unlikely
to fill even half of the 45,000-seater
stadium on a regular basis, events will be a
big part of the Arena’s future business plan.
There is a huge appetite for martial arts
in Russia, including judo, jujitsu, boxing,
Russian SAMBO and Graeco-Roman
wrestling, and the Russian Copper
Company (RCC) has invested big in a
five-storey Ekaterinburg Martial Arts
Academy.
Practice and training was in full swing
when I dropped by and a boxing belt
donated by Mike Tyson takes pride of place
in the inner sanctum. It sits next to a
conference space which doubles as an
MMA ‘cage’.
A short drive from the city centre can
bring you to the 250-hectare Pine Creek
golf centre which also has meetings and
events space, including a beautiful terrace.
It offers a swish venue and experience for
incentives delegates wishing to get a taste
of Urals Big Nature while maybe shooting
a few holes at a club designed by British
architect Paul Thomas.
New Russia means golf and yacht clubs,
and The Urals Yacht Club Komatek, with
its ‘Drop Anchor’ restaurant, back in the
city, is a new venture on the shores of a
reservoir. It provides a base for training
future Olympians as well as hosting
international meetings, both on the water
and in its adjoining hotel.
The complex has teambuilding offers
allied to rent of smaller meetings spaces, all
tacking towards very reasonable rates.
If all that sporting activity leaves you a
little tired, then you can recharge in one of
the many restaurants or cafes in the city, all
at prices well below West European levels.
In the Urals you can also dip your feet,
literally, into Asia, as the region straddles
the border between Europe and Asia. I
advise a trip out to Berezovsky, too, the
birthplace of Russian gold mining. You can
pan for gold and go down the mine itself.
When your fighting spirit returns, you
can visit the Ural Mining and
Metallurgical Company Museum of
Military and Civilian Vehicles and its 5,700
exhibits. A must-see for anyone interested
in tanks and planes.
Russia’s
fourth city
is reaching
for the
skies in
many ways
- a new
home for
skyscraper
technology
and a
burgeoning
centre for
MICE.
Ekaterinburg Expo
For those thinking big in the congress
market, then the IEC Ekaterinburg
Expo, with 100,000sqm of events space,
is the largest such complex in the Urals.
There is a new pavilion and the centre
hosted the Urals MICE Day. The city’s
World Trade Center offers a smaller,
high-class conference venue.
One barrier, I guess, to visiting the
Urals – gateway to Siberia – is flight
access. But, for unique experiences and a
taste of the real Russian hinterland, you’d
be a bad sport for not wanting to
investigate at least.
Above:
CMW on the
platform for
MICE in the
Urals
ISSUE 102
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CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
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