BUDAPEST – The Semmelweis University, in close cooperation with the Hungarian University Sports Federation (HUSF) and the Budapest Athletic Federation organized the 14th edition of “The Way of Knowledge” university half marathon event in Budapest, the one and only university street running event held in the Hungarian capital. It was organized on 9 November, 2014, on a sunny Sunday in excellent running weather, exceptional in Budapest for the month of November.
Around 1,250 participants took part in the run; out of them 480 participated in the “Academic 6” run. The number of athletes beat the last year’s record; almost twice as many people crossed the finish line than one year earlier. Some 853 participants were registered during the pre-application period and almost another 400 joined on the day of the race. Besides the Hungarian participants – thanks to the EUSA patronage and the invitations sent to several foreign universities – a remarkable number of foreign students took part from different countries, mainly from Austria, France, Germany, and Slovakia.
Amoung the VIP guests the organizers welcomed dr. István SIMICSKÓ, Minister of State for Sports, dr. Ágoston SZÉL, Rector of the Semmelweis University, dr. László LOVÁSZ, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Some of the VIP guests, namely dr. István SIMICSKÓ and Prof. dr. Ágoston SZÉL also completed the shorter distance, the 6 km-long “Academic 6” run. In addition, some well-known athletes also took part in the race, like Ms. Leila GYENESEI, modern pentathlon world champion.
An official warm-up for all participants was held by the reputed Hungarian aerobic trainer, Dániel DOBROVSZKI. During the Opening Ceremony short salutes were held by dr. György MÉSZÁROS, Director of Semmelweis University, the main organizer of the event, by Prof. dr. Ágoston SZÉL, by dr. István SIMICSKÓ, and by HUSF President Prof. dr. Ádám KISS. After the national anthem of Hungary, the participants crossed the start line at 11am.
Results
Men’s Individual Race
1. Dárius Ádám FARKAS 1:10:11
2. Ákos MOLNÁR 1:10:20
3. Péter JENKEI 1:11:44
Women’s Individual Race
1. Zsanett KIS 1:23:03
2. Dr. Lilla ROZSNYAI 1:25:15
3. Katalin FERENC 1:26:21
Competition of Institutes of Higher Education
1. Budapest University of Technology and Economics 8:33:39
2. University of Pécs 8:39:56
3. University of Szeged 8:49:54
The Budapest Athletic Federation provided the technical background. Around 120 volunteers, mainly university students from several institutions of higher education were helping in the organizational works before and during the event.
(Source: HUSF – Photos by Semmelweis University Student Sports Club & HUSF)