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Arpad Kocsis is the race director of the Budapest Half Marathon and the Budapest Marathon, the two major running events in the Hungarian capital.

Tell us something about the race we cannot find on the homepage of the event.
Budapest Half Marathon is a middle sized half marathon with about 6000 finishers, offering a “family-like” atmosphere on the race: it is large enough for runners not to feel alone on the course; however, it is far from the crowded streets of the big races. We can pay attention to the individual needs of our runners, e.g. all questions are answered via e-mail in a personal way. When our runners finish the race the speaker announces their names almost one by one when they cross the finish line.

Do you have a favourite mile? Have you run the races yourself in the past?
I am an amateur runner; I have been the race director of the Budapest Half Marathon since 1996. As the organiser, I have not had the chance to run the full race. However, I run regularly on the course and know it quite well.
I think one of the most beautiful parts is when runners run along the river Danube. They have the chance to do this on both banks of the river admiring both the panorama on Buda side with the Buda Castle which is part of the World Heritage and on the Pest side the beautiful building of Parliament which is the second largest one in Europe. Budapest is the city of bridges, we either run over the bridges or under them, so runners have the chance to admire all of them!

Apart from a pair of shoes and a smile, what would you like runners to bring to the race?
I suggest to bring two things: a tangible one – that is a bathing suit, and an intangible one – a hungry stomach Let me explain.
Bathing suit. Budapest is famous for its thermal baths, so I suggest all visitors coming to Budapest to visit one of the beautiful spas we have, for example Gellért Spa or the Szechenyi Spa. A wonderful and unforgettable experience for sure!
Empty stomach. I suggest visitors to visit a few restaurants when in Budapest and taste the famous Hungarian cousine along with some traditional Hungarian meals. A special experience is to have a dinner of a boat while cruising the river Danube in the evening and seeing the beautifully lit Budapest.

How many people are involved in the organisation of the Budapest Half Marathon? How many runners do you expect for the next edition? How many from abroad?
More than 700 people work on the race day! We expect about 1500 foreign runners with over 11 000 runners in total on the race day including all the distances organised on the day.

What is your favourite race (excluding the ones your organise)?
According to my race diary, over the past few years I have run in 25 countries on about 50 different races. I have enjoyed them all! Which is my favourite? Well, it is always the one I am running at the given moment

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