INTERNATIONAL ROUTE E3
"KOM-EMINE", ALSO KNOWN AS THE "E3" ROUTE, IS THE NAME OF THE LONGEST MARKED HIKING TRAIL IN BULGARIA, WHICH USED TO BE KNOWN AS THE "ROUTE OF FRIENDSHIP". THIS INTERNATIONAL ROUTE INCLUDES CROSSING AREAS WITH SIGNIFICANT ELEVATION GRADIENTS AND REQUIRES CLIMBING OR PASSING OVER 100 PEAKS.THE ORIGINAL IDEA OF HIKING THE RIDGE OF THE BALKAN MOUNTAINS WAS PROPOSED BY ALEKO KONSTANTINOV. IN 1933, PAVEL DELIRADEV AND TODOR TSVETKOV IMPLEMENTED THIS IDEA, AND PAVEL DELIRADEV WROTE AND PUBLISHED THE FIRST GUIDEBOOK FOR THE ROUTE UNDER THE TITLE "FROM KOMI TO EMINE". THE FIRST REPETITION OF THE HIKE ALONG THE ROUTE TOOK PLACE IN 1953 BY MEMBERS OF THE REPUBLICAN COMMISSION FOR TOURISM, AFFILIATED TO THE SUPREME COMMITTEE FOR PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORTS. THIS ROUTE WAS FINALIZED AFTER TWO MORE PASSAGES IN 1955 AND 1959. THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL WINTER HIKE ON THE ROUTE WAS MADE BY TWO PEOPLE IN 1961. IN ADDITION, THE FIRST CROSSING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION, FROM CAPE EMINE TO PEAK KOM, WAS MADE IN JULY 1968 BY A GROUP FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF RUTHENIA.
ATTEMPTS FOR THE FASTEST PASSAGE
ON FOOT
THE KOM-EMINE ROUTE IS USED NOT ONLY FOR HIKING, BUT ALSO FOR BIKE AND TRAIL RACES. THE RECORD FOR THE FASTEST CROSSING ON FOOT FOR NEARLY 30 YEARS WAS HELD BY LYUBOMIR PALAKARCHEV WITH A TIME OF 5 DAYS AND 14 HOURS, SET IN 1987. ON 11 AUGUST 2015, BOZIDAR ANTONOV IMPROVED THIS RECORD, FINISHING IN 5 DAYS, 10 HOURS AND 10 MINUTES, WHICH IS 3 HOURS AND 50 MINUTES FASTER THAN PALAKARCHEV'S PREVIOUS TIME. JUST 18 DAYS LATER, ON 29 AUGUST 2015, KIRIL NIKOLOV, KNOWN AS DIESEL, SET A NEW RECORD, COMPLETING THE ROUTE IN 4 DAYS, 13 HOURS, 5 MINUTES AND 30 SECONDS. IN FEBRUARY 2019, BOZIDAR ANTONOV ACHIEVED THE FASTEST WINTER CROSSING OF THE KOM-EMINE ROUTE, COMPLETING IT IN 9 DAYS, 4 HOURS AND 51 MINUTES.
Cycling
THE FIRST BICYCLE RECORD ON THE ROUTE "KOM-EMINE" WAS SET IN 1981 BY SLAVI RASHKOV, WHO COVERED THE DISTANCE IN 6 DAYS. FOR A LONG TIME AFTER THAT, NO ATTEMPTS TO IMPROVE THIS RESULT WERE REGISTERED, UNTIL IN 2011 RAIKO STEFANOV SET A NEW RECORD WITH A TIME OF 5 DAYS AND 12 HOURS. IN 2014 BORISLAV YORDANOV IMPROVED THIS RECORD EVEN MORE, BRINGING IT DOWN TO 5 DAYS AND 4 HOURS. BETWEEN 2017 AND 2019, A COMPETITION BETWEEN ILKO ILIEV (FROM BALKAN TREK) AND BORISLAV YORDANOV (FROM VELORAPTOR/VELONOSEN POKHOD) HEATED UP, AS A RESULT OF WHICH THE TIME FOR COMPLETING THE ROUTE WAS REDUCED TO 2 DAYS AND 22 HOURS AND 49 MINUTES BY BORISLAV YORDANOV AND 2 DAYS, 22 HOURS AND 4 MINUTES BY ILKO ILIEV.
LABELING
THE ROUTE FROM KOM TO EMINE IS FULLY SIGNPOSTED, DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN SUMMER AND WINTER MARKINGS. THE SUMMER MARKING IS A RED LINE SURROUNDED BY TWO WHITE LINES, WHICH IS PLACED ON STABLE AND EASILY VISIBLE SURFACES SUCH AS TREES, STONES, BUILDINGS, ETC., ALONG THE ENTIRE ROUTE. IN CONTRAST, WINTER MARKINGS CONSIST OF METAL POLES THAT ARE DRIVEN INTO THE GROUND AND PAINTED YELLOW AND BLACK IN ALTERNATING STRIPES TO MAKE THEM VISIBLE IN WINTER CONDITIONS.
TRADITION
THERE IS A TRADITION ASSOCIATED WITH THE START OF THE KOM-EMINE ROUTE THAT ENCOURAGES HIKERS TO TAKE TWO SMALL STONES WITH THEM WHEN THEY START THEIR JOURNEY FROM KOM PEAK. ONE STONE IS A MEMENTO, SYMBOLISING THE BEGINNING OF THEIR ADVENTURE, WHILE THE OTHER STONE IS TO BE TAKEN TO THE SEA, AT THE FINAL POINT OF THE ROUTE AT CAPE EMINE, AS A SIGN OF A COMPLETED TREK AND A LINKING OF THE TWO ENDS OF THE JOURNEY
