Budapest Marathon

The Budapest Marathon is an annual marathon and sport event hosted by the city of Budapest, Hungary since 1961. It is normally held at the beginning of October or the end of September. Since 1984 Budapest Sport Iroda (BSI) has managed the event.

The Budapest Marathons – with different supporters like IBUSZ, Kaiser’s-Plus, Plus, then SPAR - have been attracting more and more people from inside and outside the country since 1984 by BSI. The first one was organized in April - there were already a marathon-brochure and a T-shirt. In 1994 and 1995 there was a pause in the history of the event, but in 1996 the half marathon distance became an independent race and since that time it has been held in autumn each year.

The Budapest Marathon started off from a few different locations during its history but for a long while the race center has been situated at the Városliget (City Park). The race starts in Hősök tere (Heroes' Square), and it takes more than 15 minutes for the runners to pass the start line. The route of the marathon has changed a lot in the course of time, but the runners always go through many beautiful sights.

Hungary’s biggest marathon crosses two sites which are part of UNESCO world heritage, is becoming more popular. The number of the foreign runners is increasing continuously and a lot of them keep returning.

2015 race was a record; none of the Hungarian sport events had so many participants before: 27,860 athletes from 80 countries competed in one of the distances at the 30th SPAR Budapest Marathon.

Among men Zoltán Kiss can feel proud of himself because no one ever was faster than him during a Budapest Marathon: his 2:15:04 time in 1984 is still a record. Among women Simona Staicu has the best time ever, she was able to stand on the podium four times and in 2010 she performed the distance in 2:37:47.

The race starts at Hősök tere (Heroes' Square) and finishes in Városliget (City Park). Much of the route stays close to the River Danube. After the contest, competitors can bathe their aching feet in the Széchenyi thermal bath.

In the early history of the race, it was known as the Csepeli Nemzetközi Maraton (Csepel International Marathon). It obtained its current name in 1981.

Past winners

Key:   Course record   Hungarian championship race

Edition	Year	Men's winner	Time (h:m:s)	Women's winner	Time (h:m:s)
1st	1961	Sándor Molnár (HUN)	2:28:20.2	Not held
2nd	1962	József Sütő (HUN)	2:23:05.8
3rd	1963	Sándor Molnár (HUN)	2:28:21
4th	1964	Istvan Kun (HUN)	2:24:14
5th	1965	János Huszár (HUN)	2:19:55.8
6th	1966	Andor Bruder (HUN)	2:33:36
7th	1967	Denes Simon (HUN)	2:22:19
8th	1968	Janos Szerenyi (HUN)	2:26:13.2
9th	1969	Gyula Tóth (HUN)	2:26:51
10th	1970	Nikola Simeonov (BUL)	2:21:56.2
11th	1971	Gyula Toth (HUN)	2:21:46
12th	1972	Ferenc Szekeres (HUN)	2:22:38	Sarolta Monspart (HUN)	2:59:53.2
13th	1973	Jozsef Babinyecz (HUN)	2:17:45	?	?
14th	1974	Martin Schröder (GER)	2:15:13	?	?
15th	1975	Jürgen Eberding (GER)	2:15:36	?	?
16th	1976	Ryszard Kopijasz (POL)	2:16:21	Sarolta Monspart (HUN)	2:48:22.2
17th	1977	Jerzy Finster (POL)	2:15:41	Sarolta Monspart (HUN)	2:48:59
18th	1978	Ferenc Szekeres (HUN)	2:16:38.8	Ágnes Sipka (HUN)	3:02:21
19th	1979	?	?	?	?
20th	1980	János Szekeres (HUN)	2:14:25	?	?
21st	1981	Zoltán Kiss (HUN)	2:18:52	Liane Winter (GER)	2:51:22
22nd	1982	Zoltán Kiss (HUN)	2:15:32	Antonia Ladanyi (HUN)	2:38:29
23rd	1983	Antoni Niemczak (POL)	2:14:15	Ágnes Sipka (HUN)	2:44:33
24th	1984	Zoltán Kőszegi (HUN)	2:14:32	Karolina Szabó (HUN)	2:33:43
25th	1985	Sandor Szendrei (HUN)	2:13:11	Ilona Zsilak (HUN)	2:37:44
26th	1986	Peter Antal (HUN)	2:14:48	Ágnes Sipka (HUN)	2:28:51
27th	1987	Stephan Freigang (GER)	2:14:37	Birgit Stephan (GER)	2:32:20
28th	1988	Attila Sulyok (HUN)	2:17:59	Andri Avraam (CYP)	2:41:50
29th	1989	Klaus Goldammer (GER)	2:20:58	Andri Avraam (CYP)	2:41:55
30th	1990	?	?	Anna Kamkalova (RUS)	2:52:05
—	Not held from 1991 to 1995
31st	1996	Endre Laczfi (HUN)	2:19:50	Erika Csomor (HUN)	2:56:29
32nd	1997	Martón Lajtos (HUN)	2:22:02	Éva Petrik (HUN)	2:46:50
33rd	1998	Gergely Rezessy (HUN)	2:15:38	Judit Nagy (HUN)	2:40:09
34th	1999	Gergely Rezessy (HUN)	2:19:31	Erika Csomor (HUN)	2:44:39
35th	2000	Mykola Rudyk (UKR)	2:19:32	Erika Csomor (HUN)	2:41:57
36th	2001	Tolosa Gebre (ETH)	2:18:45	Judit Nagy (HUN)	2:39:04
37th	2002	Gergely Rezessy (HUN)	2:18:41	Ida Kovács (HUN)	2:38:18
38th	2003	László Nagy (HUN)	2:24:39	Judit Nagy (HUN)	2:41:56
39th	2004	Jackton Odhiambo (KEN)	2:24:17	Simona Staicu (HUN)	2:38:17
40th	2005	Jackton Odhiambo (KEN)	2:22:03	Katalin Farkas (HUN)	2:49:31
41st	2006	Tamás Tóth (HUN)	2:25:03	Judit Nagy (HUN)	2:59:49
42nd	2007	Tamás Tóth (HUN)	2:24:40	Judit Nagy (HUN)	2:47:10
43rd	2008	Gergely Rezessy (HUN)	2:24:21	Judit Nagy (HUN)	2:45:32
44th	2009	Moses Chepkwony (KEN)	2:25:18	Andrea Szederkényi-Takács (HUN)	2:44:34
45th	2010	Ashenafi Erkolo (ETH)	2:23:14	Simona Staicu (HUN)	2:37:50
46th	2011	Elisha Sawe (KEN)	2:25:58	Judit Nagy (HUN)	2:54:47
47th	2012	Gábor Józsa (HUN)	2:21:06	Tímea Merényi (HUN)	2:49:30
48th	2013	Gábor Józsa (HUN)	2:22:58	Simona Staicu (HUN)	2:42:26
49th	2014	Tamás Nagy (HUN)	2:27:15	Simona Staicu (HUN)	2:51:08
50th	2015	Dániel Soós (HUN)	2:25:21	Tímea Merényi (HUN)	2:45:11

References

List of winners

• Budapest Marathon. Association of Road Racing Statisticians (2011-10-03). Retrieved on 2011-10-16.

External links

• Official website