June 1907 the longest automobile race of all time. Five cars had started, but forty participants had registered. Very few had arrived in Beijing with their vehicle, because they had not managed the ship transfer in time. Actually the race committee wanted to cancel the race thereupon. It was nevertheless launched. So the five participants drove from Beijing to Paris. The mammoth route had a length of almost 16.000 kilometers. It went through the Gobi Desert, past Lake Baikal, crossed Siberia, went over the Urals and finally through Moscow on to France. There were no set rules for the tour. The first person to arrive in Paris won a magnum bottle of Mumm champagne. It took two months for the first vehicle of the five participant cars to arrive on 10. August reached the French capital. The Italian team led by Prince Scipione Borghese was hailed as the winner, including his car, an Itala 35/45 hp and 7.433 cubic centimeters of displacement. He was followed on 30. August 1907 the second vehicle driven by the Dutchman Charles Goddard. It was a Spyker. The other three cars did not reach their destination. All in all, this race was an incredible venture and a challenge for the riders, because neither signposts nor sufficient maps were available on the route. The areas were unknown, in some cases there were not even roads. To at least ensure fuel supplies, barrels of gasoline were carried on camels to stations set up along the route. There were also teleprinters set up so that the race could be followed worldwide. In addition, a journalist rode in every automobile. In the remote areas of Central Asia, there was no motorized means of transport, especially since the car was far from being a matter of course even in Europe.
Cycling
For the first time on 14. In 1907, the Milan-San Remo cycling race was held in Milan on April 1, 1907, which is the longest classic one-day race in professional cycling, covering more than 290 kilometers. Today it is one of the so-called monuments of cycling. 33 racers took part in the first race. The French racer Lucien Mazan (1882-1917) won the race with an average speed of 26.6 km/h. The average speed in 2010 was around 43 km/h. An allowance of five lire was provided for participants in the first race. Lucien Mazan, who went down in sports history as the "little Breton", was one of the best riders ever in the so-called heroic era of cycling. In 1907 he also won the Tour de France for himself.
Mountaineering
At that time it was still very difficult for women to gain a foothold in various sports. The London Alpine Club, for example, stubbornly refused to admit female alpinists to its fellowship. Elizabeth Le Blond, who was one of the most famous female mountaineers in her time, had already climbed the Swiss Piz Palü in 1898 with Evelyn McDonnell without a guide (3.900 m) was conquered. In 1907 she founded the "Lyceum Alpine Club" in London, which was later called the "Ladies' Alpine Club" and of which she was chairman first until 1912 and then again from 1933 to 1934. In 1907, the German Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941). The US-American Frank Marshall (1877-1944) won the world chess championship on. Lasker had not defended his world title for a period of ten years until then. Marshall was the strongest possible challenger. Nevertheless he could not defeat the defending champion Lasker. Emanuel Lasker remained World Chess Champion from 1894 to 1921. Until today he is the only German holder of the world championship title. The position of a world champion he held 27, longer than any other world chess champion. Lasker was inducted into the Hall of Fame of German sports in 2008.