Budapest Marathon - An observer’s view
The three of us, two marathoners and an observer, left our accommodation with plenty of time in hand to arrive at the race precinct with time to carry out the pre race rituals that runners have.
On arrival at the race precinct all went smoothly, except for half an hour or so of rain, which saw runners huddling together in covered entries trying to stay dry and warm. thankfully the rain stopped just before the race began.
Watching Andy and Chris disappear into the sea of 4,000 runners was exciting especially when what I think was the national anthem started to play !! And then they were off.
I along with hundreds of other on lookers made our way to the parapet wall to look down on the stream of runners passing below. Thankfully Andy was wearing his Caboolture Road Runners vest - yellow and black which stood out in the sea of black, blue and red.
After sighting my runners - who looked fresh and happy, I began to make my way across the bridge following the course map I was planning to head to Margaret Island the 24, 29km points - thinking that gives me plenty of time (approx 2-3hrs) to navigate the metro, tram system and also allowing for any errors in navigation that may occur.
On my way to the bridge I saw two people looking at their phones and discussing how to get to the next point - I realised they were tracking their runners. I asked them if I could join them and of course like all the people we have met along the way they were generous and helpful so off we went.
They had worked out that we could get to the 11 and 12km points before the runners arrived. On the way I realised that my new friends - Andreas and Alejandro - were taking in Spanish - crazy world - they were from Costa Rica and their parents were running their first Marathon, through tracking our runners we discovered their parents and Andy and Chris were running at a similar pace. We made it to the Liberty bridge (Szabadság híd) with not a long wait - I saw Andy and Chris at 11 & 12km - still looking fresh and happy - and still running together.
We waited and saw Andreas and Alejandro’s parents it was then we went out our separate ways.
The boys following their parents and I deciding to go out to Margaret Island (Margitsziget) but first, coffee !
This time I had to navigate the city on my own, the coffee stop was a Starbucks which seems to be in abundance here in Budapest, then on to Metro Line 4 stop Kalvin Ter - which follows the Danube - to Goncz Arpad varoskozpont. This is the closest metro station to the north end of Margaret island where I could be at 24, 29 and 32 kms with supplies if needed.
After minor navigational confusion on exiting the metro station I found someone who could point me in the direction of Margaret Island - a straightforward walk across half of Arpad bridge (Árpád hid) to wait for marathoners !! Again not a long wait and they appeared - Andy’s shirt standing out - still together, more focussed but still looking fresh !
After seeing them at 32km heading off to complete the last 10km I headed back to the race precinct Metro Line 4 to Corvin negyed, then a tram across yet another bridge Petőfi Bridge (Petőfi híd) back to the race precinct. Again not a long wait, and there they were - still together looking less fresh but more determined - they completed their marathon in a fantastic sub 4hrs and ran the whole course together.
I covered the city by train, tram and foot - my steps for the day approximately 19 000. Not too bad for an observer.