A new feature of this Budapest running festival this year will be the 10.5-kilometer Szoboszlai Run.

Árpád Kocsis, the managing director of the organizer Budapest Sports Office (BSI), recalled the forty-year history of the Hungarian Vivicittá at the press conference.

He highlighted that a total of 450,000 people participated in the running event over the four decades, and the peak was reached in 2019, when more than 31,000 runners took part.

This year, entries came from more than 1,100 Hungarian settlements and 104 countries. 

Three thousand people from abroad submitted their entries, which is an absolute peak in Vivicittá's history and 30 percent more than the previous record set in 2017. 

The most popular distance is the half marathon, which, according to Kocsis, is expected to fill its 9,000-person capacity.

Máriusz Révész, the State Secretary responsible for an active Hungary at the Prime Minister's Office, stressed that the BSI has done a lot to get people moving as much as possible. 
 

He revealed that he is not only happy about the record for the half marathon distance because so many people will run in Budapest, but also because he knows that the 10 and 21 kilometers require months of preparation, with several training sessions per week. Running and regular physical exercise can thus become a way of life for many people, he stated. 

He also reported that they had agreed with the BSI that 130 volunteer running ambassadors across the country would hold one training session per week for the locals, thereby helping them prepare. They would like to increase the number of running ambassadors to 200 in the near future.

Dorottya Keszthelyi, member of the Metropolitan Assembly and chairwoman of the capital's human resources committee, drew attention to the fact that participating in Vivicitta is a community experience, and new sports friendships can also be made at the event.

"It's important to have offline experiences in this increasingly online world ," he added.

Tamás Sántha, Magyar Telekom's brand experience manager, said that this year the program has been expanded with a new race, the 10.5-kilometer Szoboszlai race. 

That distance refers to the average distance that Liverpool footballers run during national team matches, according to measurements. 300 people were able to register for this race, and the number is already full.

According to Tamás Sántha, their company is committed to being a digital supporter of its customers in the field of health, which is why it launched Telekom's digital health service called Egészség.

The running festival will start next Saturday at 10 am with the Suhanj! race near the Margaret Island water tower, on the Schulek Frigyes promenade. The 3x2-kilometer relay race and the 7-kilometer Midicitta will also be held that day. 

On Sunday, the 21.1-kilometer half marathon will start at 9 a.m., followed by the 10-kilometer race, the Telekom Vivicittá, and the 10.5-kilometer Szoboszlai race at 1 pm.

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