Hungarian gold medal at the aquathlon world championship

08 September 2010

The ITU World Championship kicked-off with a great success for the Hungarian  athletes competing one kilometer swimming and 2,5 kilometers running at the ITU Aquathlon World Championship 2010. The Hungarian triathletes won one gold, two silver and one bronze medal. The Age Group races met with success as well at the Lágymányosi Bay and the mood warmed up even more during the Green Triathlon Team relay and the closing gulash party.

One could see people wearing british warm ups early in the morning at the Lágymányosi bridge indicating that after Sydney, Seoul, Madrid, Hamburg, London and Kitzbühel the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series arrived to Budapest.

An Expo area is set up in the green bay where the sponsors would like to draw attention to the connection of the sport and environment. The spectators could warm up with springboard and soccer balls in the chilly weather.

Hundreds of athletes entered the Age Group aquathlon races despite of the bad weather conditions. The cool, windy weather hardly warmed up the water, which was only 14 degrees, and the sun shined just a few minutes, so the one-kilometer swim was a real challenge for the athletes. Of course, not all felt the same and the winner of the first two waves from Ireland said it is nothing wrong with the weather, feels like beach time.

The organizers relieved the rules, so the two running distances of 2.5 km were halved. Amazingly, within the different age categories, not only the teenagers came to participate, but two triathletes over 75 years old challenged themselves as well. Although the American did not finish, Peter Howard from Great Britain proudly completed the distance in less than 39 minutes.

The highlight of the afternoon started at 2.00 p.m.with the elite junior and U23 competition. Among the mens, Richard Varga from Slovakia gained incredible superiority in swimming, and after an easy 2.5-km run, letting noone finishing ahead of him, picked up the win. The British Daniel Halksworth reached the second place, while Attila Fecskovics only ten seconds behind won the bronze medal.

Gaia Peron reached the best time in swimming in the Elite women race, but it wasn’t enough for the victory, as Margit Vanek, after a phantastic run, was faster in running and the Hungarian finished first with a 22.23 race time. Szandra Szalay came as the runner-up making the hungarian fans happy. In the junior women category Eszter Papp won the silver medal,
just like Tamas Keki in U23 men.

The Green Triathlon Team Relay took place in the afternoon with a modified duathlon distance, due to the low water temperature. Many well-known athletes, olympic champions, former triathletes and the sponsors participated in the relay. Spectators could cheer for Ágnes Kovacs, Evelyn Verrasztó, Imre Pulai, Kinga Bota, Zsolt Gyulai and Attila Katus, and the parodist Andras Nagy-Bandó as a jury member of the Aestellas Prize - „Doctor of the Year”.

The Invitel Pro Triathlon Team finished first in the mens’ competition and the team of former triathletes Zsuzsa Varga, Erika Molnar and Eszter Szendrei all being mothers currently, won the women's race. RTL Klub, led by Zoltan Alföldipicked up the win in the mixed team category.  In the athletes category Imre Pulai, Edvin Csabai and Csaba Hütter signed their names among the winners

Please visit the gallery for the pictures of the first day.

Results
Elite Men
1. Richard Varga (szlovák) 20.27
2. Daniel Halksworth (brit) 20.48
3. Fecskovics Attila 20.58

Elite Women
1. Vanek Margit 22.23
2. Szalay Szandra 23.02
3. Gaia Peron (olasz) 23.08


Junior Men
1. Benjamin Shaw (ír) 21.03
2. Andrea De Ponti (olasz) 21.15
3. Luca Desideri (olasz) 21.19

Junior Women
1. Elena Maria Petrini (olasz) 23.21
2. Pap Eszter 23.59
3. Mira Bednaroviaova (szlovák) 25.19

U23 Men
1. Phil Wolfe (brit) 20.51
2. Kéki Tamás 21.05
3. Matija Lukina (horvát) 21.14