Sunday, March 9, 2008

120 - Cerro de Pasco, Peru

In the Andes NE of Lima. Here's a great tidbit from the wikipage of the Peruvian soccer team Deportivo Wanka:
The team aroused controversy in 2004 when it moved its base to Cerro de Pasco, the highest city in the world and almost certainly the world's highest venue for professional football, at an altitude of 4,380 m (13,973 ft) above sea level, well above the point where altitude sickness becomes a problem. Its opponents criticised the move as an attempt to stave off relegation [to a lower league] by playing in conditions that no other team could tolerate, including hail, rain, near-freezing temperatures and a lack of oxygen from the high altitude. The club was relegated that season anyway.

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