Kouros conquers Hungarian heat and humidity in 212-kilometer Ultrabalaton
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Balaton by day and by night

Lake Balaton, dubbed as the Hungarian sea, is the largest lake in Central Europe with a surface area of 592 km². Thousands of people swim it across between Révfülöp and Balatonboglár, where its width is 5.2km, every year. For amateur cyclists, it is a challenge to ride over 200 kilometers around its shores without interruption. However, the second edition of the 212km ultramarathon race, called Ultrabalaton, attracted the strongest athletes from all around Europe on June 21^st, 2008.

Ultrabalaton has a short race history as its predecessor around Lake Balaton, called Balaton Loop, used to be a sub-event of an organization, which specializes in a four-day stage race along a slightly different route via Tapolca, excluding Tihany Peninsula, starting from Balatonaliga clockwise. The first such non-stop event took place with a handful of Hungarian runners (Jenő Horváth, Zoltan Kiss, Attila, Végh, Tamás Tóth-Urbán and Edit Bérces) in 2000 and was followed by 5 editions, without a significant increase in participation.

In 2007, two enthusiastic runners, Peter Nagy and Norbert Szász decided to buy out the rights to organize the race under the name UltraBalaton from the previous organizer, Zoltan Ujj. The first edition was a successful first night and as a result, the second one lured more runners and increased media attention.

The hilly course of Ultrabalaton, which proceeds counterclockwise, includes an elevation gain of 200 meters in the first 15 kilometers and another 50 meters around the 50 kilometer point, a climb which virtually repeats in the final 2 kilometers, not to mention a 6 kilometer stretch of paths in the woods and the fields of Dörgicse after 17 kilometers.

The organizers had done their best to invite Yiannis Kouros, the living legend of ultrarunning, to come to Balaton and be among the 134 participants, a record number of ultramarathon runners on top of the 88 relay teams of four to five runners, who toed the starting line in the hope to complete the grueling one-loop challenge from the hill of Tihany Peninsula back to Tihany again within the 32-hour cut-off time. Among the men's contenders we could see former champions of Balaton Loop and Ultrabalaton, like János Bogár, Jenő Horváth, László Fendrik, and Jan Ondrus.

Regarding the women's field, there was no doubt that the race would be exciting as ,in addition to last year's five participants (Tímea Bontovics, Claudia Illetschko, Krisztina Nagy, Monika Horváth, Françoise Pallaruelo), a number of newcomers (12), such as Martina Nemecková, Pavlina Procházková, Andrea Gál, Orsolya Oravecz, Edit Deák, and Éva Gurdon from Germany, Finland, Czech Republic, and Hungary, showed up at the start, which took place in conjunction with the relay runners at 10 a.m., 2 hours before the men's. Among the favorites were last year's winner Tímea Bontovics, Elke Streicher, winner of Tourtour de Ruhr, Ildikó Wermescher, Hungary's current 100K champion, and Maria Tähkävuori Finnish multi-day record holder.

Tímea Bontovics and Ildikó Wermescher completed the first 60 km or so together but then the latter suddenly had to stop for a while due to some foot pain. After some treatment to her foot she caught up with and passed Tímea with an even, confident pace and kept the lead all the way to the finish, unchallenged. Later on Tímea, as she was suffering from rubbed skin injury on her legs, was also passed by Balaton rookie Andrea Gál, Gandi at around Siófok, taking the second place on the podium. (See list of results/Women)

Because of the grueling nature and climate of the course, personal crewing was allowed right from the start. Kouros' team included multiple triathlon champion Zsuzsanna Harsányi and Ákos Blahó, an accomplished 24-hour runner.

Crewing by bike in a point-to-point ultra run can be a demanding job for a variety of reasons. First of all, the bike is usually loaded with the runner's personal food, bottles, clothes and shoes. Second, it can be a challenge to ride uphill and serve the runner with one hand at the same time without falling or bouncing, not to mention missing a turn... What's more, it is acceptable for the runner to drop out when he or she is injured, exhausted or sick, but quitting is not an option for a dedicated crew member.

The handicap start of the women's race provided a good opportunity and motivation for the men to catch up with and even talk to the lady competitors ahead one by one between about the 50th and 120th kilometers of the course. Among the entrants we could see two returning couples from last year: Françoise and Gilles Pallaruelo from France and Monika Horvath with her husband Zoltan Németh from Hungary, from among whom Mónika and Gilles made it to the finish.

It is interesting to note that the women's dropout rate (10/17), exceptionally exceeded that of the men (35/85) while their rate of participation compared to the men's (85/14) was typical. (See Success Ratio charts by Gróf below)

Janos Bogar, Hungary's multiple ultramarathon champion, took the lead right from the start, but was soon passed before the 35th kilometer by Yiannis Kouros. Due to the suicidal pace at the start in addition to the high temperatures, Bogar was forced to drop out and was soon followed by over half of the participants who fell victims to sun stroke, dehydration or stomach pains. The weather was hotter and more humid than last year, pushing the mercury above 30°C for most of the day and not far below that during the night.

The 52 aid stations, manned usually by volunteers from local non-government organizations, were well-stocked with not only the usual energy drinks and food for the runners, but also olives, a rarity in Hungary. At the same time the asphalt melted under the runners feet, but ice and cold drinks were hard to find. No wonder, not even the ice truck the organizers had arranged, was suitable to keep the drinks and ice cubes cold.

Even Kouros, who flew in from Athens, acclimatized to hot weather, was sweating all the time and was running with a bare torso even in the first few hours of the night. In the small hours, however, he decided to put on his long running tights to protect his knees from the wind.

A small remark on the runners' outfit: Most of them were wearing T-shirts or singlets with names of their running clubs, nationalities or previous ultramarathons they had completed and were proud of. However, there were two shirt designs that appeared unusual. One of them said ULTRABALATON, AUSTRIA, specially designed for the event. But the soccer jersey worn by Ferenc Szőnyi of the eventual 6th finisher, appeared even more striking. His shirt with the word BECKHAM and the number 23 was a giveaway that he was a rookie ultrarunner in spite of the fact that he had won a silver medal at the Hungarian 24-Hour Championship earlier this year. As it seems, the sport of ultrarunning has a long way to go and grow before it receives the respect and attention it deserves. Perhaps there will be a day when local soccer team players start wearing shirts with the name of KOUROS, BOGAR, VASS or KOVÁCS.

As the sun was going down, Kouros was greeted and cheered on by friends and admirers along the south shore of Lake Balaton where many people came to the streets to watch the heroes of Ultrabalaton.

Although the moon was full, it was necessary to wear headlamps in the darkest sections of the course. The headlamps, however, attracted thousands of mosquitoes, which forced the runners to run faster and get out of the darkness.

The sound effects of the night included the singing of frogs, crickets and birds, interrupted by the loud noises of some freight trains once in a while.

The morning sun was shining brightly from behind as the course turned west again and followed the runners all the way uphill to the finish.

Yiannis Kouros crossed the finish line after 19 hours, 27 minutes and 52 seconds, runner-up was German dark horse Michael Vanicek while Levente Kalotai, the fastest Hungarian, came in third to complete the podium ahead of Czech Daniel Oralek. (See list of results/Men)

Not only did Kouros win the individual division of Ultrabalaton, but also passed close to 50 relay teams, who completed the distance with a night's rest excluded from their time This achievement meant the fifth consecutive ultramarathon victory and over 1,736 race kilometers or 1,008 miles for Kouros within three months. (See table with Overview of Kouros' ultramarathon victories in 2008 below). "On the roads of Hungary I always run faster than usual" said Kouros in an interview after the finish.

Two days after Yiannis' victory a long distance swimmer, Attila Mányoki was introduced to him in Hungary and said his plan was to swim Balaton lengthwise, which would mean about 77 kilometers of non-stop swimming. A picture was taken of the new champion of Balaton and the hopeful swimmer. While this report was being written, Attila Mányoki fulfilled his dream by being the first person of modern times to swim from Balatonkenese all the way to Keszthely in 25 hours and a half...

Special thanks for information and data to Tímea Bontovics, Andrea Gál, Zoltán Ujj, and Péter Nagy.

July 7th, 2008
Text and photos by Edit Bérces
Charts and web optimization by Olivér Gróf and Ákos Hováth