8th Szentgotthárd Battle Commemoration Race

8. Szentgotthárd Schlachtlauf

The small town of Szentgotthárd, located in the far west of Hungary, on the border with Austria, hosts a lovely little summer evening running event, the Csatafutás.

The 9.5k "Battle Race" is held in remembrance of a seven-hour battle on 1 August 1664, in which Turkish troops were stopped on their way to Vienna.

The route runs across the border into Austria, up a wooded hill, around a memorial, and then the same way back to Szentgotthárd.

Most of the route is on asphalt roads but there's a short off-road section across the former Iron Curtain.

In 2009, local athlete Zsolt Koszár won the men's race in a time of 30 minutes 18 seconds. World-class distance runner Anikó Kálovics led the women home in 33 minutes 41 seconds.

Regrettably, the event has an inconsistent policy regarding entry fees. Speakers of other languages than Hungarian are charged more than those who understand the local language. We do not agree with such pricing practices, even if the differences are small. Run International stands for equality of all runners.

Country: Hungary

Venue (Map): Szentgotthárd (81km from Graz, 98km from Maribor, 107km from Varaždin, 250km from Budapest)

Date: 31 July 2010 (Saturday)

Race distance:

• 9.5km (main race)
• 1.66km ("Hobby Run")
• 0.3-1.6km (children)

Start time:

• 16.00-16.45: children
• 18.00: 9.5km
• 18.05: 1.66km

Start and finish: at the Baroque church in the town centre of Szentgotthárd

Entries:

• online or by fax, payment in cash on the day
• late entries until 30 minutes before the start

Entry fees (up to 27 July/late entries):

• 9.5km: € 8/12 (foreigners), HUF 1500/2000 (Hungarians)
• 1.66km: € 4/6 (foreigners), HUF 600/1000 (Hungarians)
• children: € 2/4 (foreigners), HUF 400/800 (Hungarians)

Timekeeping: ChampionChip - use your own chip or rent a chip for € 2 (€ 4 deposit)

Race centre: at the start

You get: a T-Shirt or a towel to the first 200 entries; entry ticket to the thermal spa in Szentgotthárd (to the first 100 entries in the 9.5k race); goulash soup to all advance entries; entry into the prize drawing

Prizes (9.5km): gift voucher (worth € 100) to the first M/F; certificates and trophies to the first 3 in each age group

Prizes (1.66km): certificates and trophies to the first 3 M/F

Showers and changing facilities: yes

Award ceremony: 17.00 (children), 20.00 (1.66km, 9.5km)

Number of finishers 2009: 155 (9.5km), 44 (1.66km), 104 children

Event website (in Hungarian): www.csatafutas.tuti.hu

No guarantee is made as to the accuracy or thoroughness of the information on this page.