28 Hungarians took part in the world’s most difficult running contest. Tamás Bódis won among men while Zsuzsa Maráz received the gold in the women’s category.
According to csupasport.hu, the results of the Hungarian runners exceeded even the best dreams and expectations.
31-year-old Tamás Bódis got into the international top of Spartathlon contestants in just a couple of months. He was 4th in 2018, but
he won the Ultrabalaton this spring
with a huge advantage. He did not start very well on Friday morning in the Spartathlon, and when he arrived at the 11th control point, he was barely in the top 10. At CP18, he was the 4th, and at the following one, the 3rd.
He ran closer and closer to the Japanese Tacuja, and by the time they arrived at CP 41, his advantage already exceeded 7 minutes, which grew to 32 minutes 1.5 hours later.
Zoltán Csécsei prepared for the contest by having
three trainings daily,
and it seems that hard work paid off. When Bódis passed the Japanese runner, Csécsei was already third, and in the end, he won the silver medal. He crossed the finish line 45 minutes later than Bódis did, while the Czech Radek Brunner came in third.
Zsuzsanna Maráz performed similarly in the 246 km run. She started a bit slower and ran with the others having a 28-minute handicap compared to the Czech Churanova, who dictated a very quick tempo at the beginning of the competition. But as the hours passed, Ms Maráz outran others one by one, and by the 35th control point, she was second behind the Russian Irina Masanova. In the rush of the competition, she even had the strength to outrun her Russian adversary. Thus, she won the contest.
Here is a video of how Bódis won the contest:
Apart from Maráz, Bódis, and Csécsei, other Hungarian contestants performed very well on the 2019 Spartathlon: Balázs Simonyi finished in the 5th place while Tibor Borbás and Péter Toldi were 12th and 15th.
It was in 1991 last that a Hungarian ultramarathonist could win on the Spartathlon. János Bogár was the winner and Gyula Hári was third then, so this year’s results are the best so far in this competition.
We reported before about the 53-year-old Hungarian ironman who
swam, cycled, and ran for 222 hours and won.
Ferenc Szőnyi even got injured, but in the end, he managed to win the DECAMANUSA New Orleans 2018, a kind of ironman contest containing 10 ultra-triathlons. Thus, he had to swim more than 38 kilometres, cycle 1,800 kilometres, and run 420 kilometres. After crossing the finish line, he said that it was great to do so with the Hungarian flag. You can read the full article HERE.
HERE you can read about a Hungarian couple who completed one of the toughest challenges in the world, the Spartan race in Thailand.
Source: csupasport.hu
