Ultra Trail Hungary - Salomon Szentlászló Trail (84km / 3000m+), Szentendre, 19.5.2024
Hungarian mud treatment
In the autumn of 2023, when I received an offer from Rado from Slovak Ultra Trail to take part in the biggest trail festival in Hungary, I replayed the movie of my to date life in my head and decided it was time to go international. I respond yes, please, and choose the happy medium - the Szentlászló Trail 84k, with 84km and 3000m+ parameters and a start at 2am on Sunday.
This is the event where runners get sunstroke, with the start and finish in the picturesque beautiful town of Szentendre on the banks of the Danube river. I'm looking forward to get warm finally after the long and hard Liptov winter. The Liptov winter was neither hard nor long and the spring started early, so I'm using this opportunity for heat adaptation whenever I can. But I didn't need it at all, this time, there were no heat strokes.
I booked accommodation in Horvath Fogadó and hereby apologize to Jožko and Vašek from Born To Trail that I unknowingly and unintentionally stole it from them - they stayed there last year. The apartment was great, close to the center of all the action, but in a quiet neighborhood. I recommend it to everyone who travels there one day. This time, I packed my family with me and sent them on a trip to Visegrad Castle while I ran. The race route led around the castle, but we didn't meet - missed each other by a few minutes. But let's recap step by step.
After a harrowing journey, when the navigation was relentlessly and persistently guiding us to the ferry across the Danube (but we resisted), we happily arrived at the place, checked in and went to look around the town (ok, we went to look for an ATM, because in our Fogadó they didn't accept credit cards). Then we went to look around the town a second time (ok, we went to pick up my bib and start pack to the sports center, say hello to Slovak Ultra Trail people and look for a restaurant to have a dinner). Szentendre is an ancient historical-romantic town on the banks of the Danube, with a specific atmosphere, beautiful picturesque streets with cobblestones. It is full of shops, restaurants and cafés. Our wanderings brought us to the embankment, to the start and finish area, where the runners from the 30km route were just arriving. The atmosphere is vibrant, runners are greeted by name at the finish line by loud speakers, layers of mud on their feet and trainers, happiness on their faces. Mud. Apparently there's a lot of it out there on the routes and it won't dry out by tomorrow. And the runners from the shorter distances have smashed it up nicely. Plus it's going to rain on Sunday morning.
Not to be distracted by the idea of mud baths, we finally fit into a nice little restaurant right down the street from where the runners are coming into the finish corridor. After ordering, the waiter came up to us again and the following conversation could be heard:
w.: "Do you like wine?"
m.: "Why?"
w.: "Wine!"
m.: "Yes, wine, but why?"
w.: "Do you like?"
m.: "Yes, I do, but I don't want to drink."
w.: "Come with me!"
m.: "But I don't want to drink wine today."
w.: "Not drink, just look! Come with me!"
m.: "Why?"
w.: "Wine!"
m.: "Yes, wine, but why?"
w.: "Do you like?"
m.: "Yes, I do, but I don't want to drink."
w.: "Come with me!"
m.: "But I don't want to drink wine today."
w.: "Not drink, just look! Come with me!"
And so we went, down the stairs, to the catacombs with vaulted ceilings, where they had a museum of all kinds of wines from different regions of Hungary. While our meals were being prepared, we wandered around and admired the display of old bottles full of old wine, ancient grape-pressing tools, demijohns, jugs, atypical bottles, an atmosphere breathing of ancient times. Amazing.
The meals were great. We then head for our Fogadó and try to get some sleep. Of course, I can't fall asleep for quite some time at first, then I fall asleep for two hours so soundly that I was surprised that the alarm clock woke me up at all. I get up after midnight feeling like hangover, my head is spinning, my stomach dizzy, my legs are trembling. I feel trashed. Let's have some coffee, hopefully it will get me back on my feet. I get dressed, pack the things I prepared the night before. It will be hot and stuffy from the start, so I put on a T-shirt and pull on the arm sleeves that I got in the start package. We go to the start, my boys accompany me. I want to sleep, my eyes are heavy. But the coffee perked me up a bit. After all, only three hours until dawn, then I will revive.
Runners begin to gather under the start-finish gate, a detailed check of all mandatory equipment is underway. After the equipment check, we are obliged to stay in the start area. The 100k runners set off two hours before us and are already on the route. The organizers brief us on the pitfalls on the course, the weather forecast, what we can and cannot expect on the route and at the aid stations.
The first notes of Metallica and Ecstasy of Gold wake me up from my slumber. I get chills. It is time. I'm find my place in the starting field, the organizers begin to count down. It's here. We take off to guitar chords and cheers, run through the corridor and continue on cobblestones through the streets of the city center, under the colored lanterns, along the canal that leads us out of the city into the silence of the dark night. All we can hear are the taps of 155 pairs of feet. My eyes are squinting into the cone of headlamp light, heavy as stone. My boys have returned to their warm soft beds, oh how I envy them, soooo desiring to lie down and sleep. I quickly banish these thoughts though, because in fact, I don't quite desire this wish to come true 😃 I actually want to run and finish.
And so we climb through the silent dark forest, the trail is wet, but bearable. The mud from yesterday must have dried in the warm night. Well, if it was like this on most of the trail, it would be great. We turn left. So, apparently, the mud hasn't dried up. We ski upwards in the slick mud, every step a slide, soon wearing two-kilogram weights on our feet. It takes a lot of strength to keep our balance while progressing upwards. So this is what it actually will look like for two thirds of the route, on the climbs and descents. But what can we do other than keep moving forward. We pass some kind of lookout point, a view of the illuminated city opens up. I stop and take pictures, meanwhile, about 10 people pass me. Well, whatever 😅 I do it for the photos 😁
Suddenly, in the near distance, we can see the blinkers flashing furiously. What's that? After all, the first aid stop is supposed to be after twenty kilometers and we have only covered ten. The guy calls me by my name and scans my chip. Oh, just a check-point. It's nice and refreshing, one immediately goes mud-skiing with more gusto 😋
The night slowly begins to fade, the first timid bird chirps are heard. We run through woods and meadows, along forest roads and trails, until we reach Dobogó-kő - the mysterious hill under which the Earth's energy vessels are said to cross. The heart chakra of the Earth is supposed to be here and therefore the hill is full of healing energy. I can't resist and veer off the trail to a nearby lookout point (I wasn't alone, more runners couldn't resist). I'm lucky that the sunrise caught me right here.
A little below the lookout is the first aid station (20.km). I eat something and, full of healing energy, I set off for the next section. The birds are already chirping in full speed, everything is waking up and coming to life. So am I. After a long downhill I arrive at the next checkpoint, refill my water, the dude scans my chip and up I go, the long and steep climb to the top of Pulpit Hill with its huge lookout tower. There is a time trial on this section - " Leki climb, race in race" - the fastest man and woman win Leki poles. The terrain is just like Bokšov from Vychodniarska 100 - just perpendicular up, clinging to the trees, heading somewhere on a beautiful rocky ridge, past rock formations, with views of the endless dense green forests of the hills of the Pilis Mountains. Here I'm enjoying it and feeling good 😃 The first and fastest 100k runners start to pass us in these places, I'm blessing myself today that I chose "only" 84km 😅 At the top, below the lookout tower, a volunteer records my time and from the there, magical views open up somewhere down to the meanders of the Danube winding around the green wooded hills.
After another longish downhill, we are greeted by an aid station with drop bags. I didn't use the drop bag this time, so I just eat and refill the liquids. I hear Slovak language. Together with two Slovaks we plunge into the next section and it's very convenient because we can hate this long, narrow, muddy trail lined with nettles together in our native tongue. One slips uncontrollably, but at least one can flatten oneself into a soft nettle cushion. It starts to rain and it rains for about two hours. I don't take my jacket out as I don't want to waste my time to put it on and take it off. The trail eventually widens but it also rises and I have to skate upwards again. But the effort is worth it, for we are rewarded with a beautiful single trail called Spartak's path, traversing the Öreg-Pap-hegy massif. Everywhere, as far as the eye can see, the green Pilis hills ripple, majestically exhaling clouds of haze after the rain.
A beautiful, runnable trail winds its way up a magical hillside until it leads us above the small town of Pilisszentlászló, where there is an aid station with hot soup. We run down alongside the calvary. In front of the aid station yard we are greeted by volunteers with jugs of water, asking - Would you like to wash your hands? Oh, yes, please! What a luxury! I haven't been wiped in the mud yet, but my hands are somewhat washable. Another volunteer takes care of me and refills my bottles. Tomato and pasta soup lands in front of me. Yum! Would you like anything else? Do you have coffee, please? She stares at me for quite some time and after assessing my (probably seemingly miserable) condition, says: For you, yes we have!
I enjoy warm soup, delicious coffee, bread with butter and cheese, pickles, chocolate. I have covered 45 kilometers in difficult terrain and I can really feel it. There is still 40 to go. But nicely gradually, from aid statin to aid station. There were a total of 12 check points on the route, of which only 5 included refreshments. Those non-refreshers were great in that they optically shortened the sections between buffets and had a placebo effect. Although we did not get to eat (it was possible to refill water somewhere), the volunteers only scanned our chip, cheered "Hajrá hajrá", but we felt well fed and hydrated and full of new energy.
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From Pilisszentlászló I continue via the long canyon through which the "Pearl Road" leads. And surely we have jumped over the stream as many times as there are pearls on a necklace. But it was beautiful there. A short asphalt section after that takes us to Visegrád town under Visegrád Castle. At the placebo aid station, I fill up on water and space energy and climb up to the Castle. It's supposed to be an endless and terrible ascent, claimed by one of the Slovak guys, but it doesn't seem that way to me. I enjoy it here and I'm up in no time. I miss my boys by three minutes, but that's okay, I'm glad they're enjoying the trip. Behind the castle, the first bombers from the 50 km route are passing me. Mud on the trails doesn't stand a chance with them 💪
I won't prolong this agony anymore, I'll just say that we ran through meadows and long forests, conquered many more mud slides, passed a few more checkpoints and aid stations. At one of them I meet Evka, who is running the 50km route and is going beautifully, as if she has just started. We cheer each other on and continue on our own. She then wins her route in style 👌 During one of those so called "motherfuckers" - inclined flats that I can't run anymore - I manage Duolingo. Yes, Je étudie français avec Duo, since Jérome declared at Javornícka 100 2022 that he was no longer going to run 100k's and thus there was no one to teach me French.
According to the picture of the route profile, there are still two more hills of approximately the same size ahead. But the reality is a bit different - the first climb is again a kind of Bokšov from Eastern Hundred - a long and perpendicular uphill, then a muddy switch-backs down. The second climb I didn't even notice. However, I did notice the descent - the muddiest slimy slide on the whole route. I plunged it down and landed at the last aid station called "Skanzen". A volunteer tells me that it's just slightly over 6km to the finish and says You won't need those things and points to the poles. I lift my eyes to the heavens and thank them with all my heart. I fold my poles into a quiver and realize that I made it through today without falling. I was running carefully though and felt like I was terribly slow and probably second to last. Well, whatever, as long as my skirt stayed immaculate 😃 can't say that about my once white trail shoes though.
In the baking sun I move along asphalt roads through suburbs and neighborhoods, the kilometers slowly ticking away, and finally I find myself by the canal along which we had shuffled in the opposite direction the morning before. I run along it, it seems endless. We pass each other with few other runners, waving amongst some pedestrians. But everything comes to an end, and so does the canal in Szentendre. We run into the streets and squares and people are roaring, clapping, shouting Hajrá! I feel like a winner. I feel the burst of energy pouring into my veins (ok, it's just those endorphins) and I run as fast as I can through the picturesque streets.
Volunteers navigate us to the finish corridor. I run past "our" restaurant, where my boys are already waiting for me and cheering. I clap hands with them, including some random woman who stuck her hand out, and I take my son with me. Just to be sure, I ask the volunteers if he can run with me. Of course, he can! they answer. So we run down the finish line together and I enjoy to the fullest the moment I've been dreaming of and visualizing all day. We finally stand under the finish gate, I turn off my watch, they scan my chip and take it off of me. A woman hands me a wet towel, but I don't need it and gratefully hand it back. I get a beautiful finisher's medal around my neck and get to enjoy the beautiful finisher feeling. A great feeling. In the end, my time of 13:36 was enough for 19th place out of 42 women, which means I was in the top half, which means I met my modest performance goal, which means I wasn't the only one who went gingerly today.
We'll stay in the finish area for a while and soak up the atmosphere, chill sitting on a wall and share impressions from the whole day. There's something about those night starts - you reach your finish in broad daylight, when the atmosphere is peaking, and you still have time to scrape the mud off and go for an excellent meal at your favorite restaurant with a wine museum. By the way, its name is Labyrint, if anyone wants to know. After the meal, I also take advantage of the luxury of a massage, which was arranged for us by the organizer. It hurts incredibly, but the feeling of relaxed muscles afterwards is worth it.
We indulgently enjoy the warm early summer evening in Szentendre and don't leave for home until the next morning. This long weekend was well worth it. Thank you to Rado and Slovak Ultra Trail for the opportunity to participate at my first international event, it was an amazing experience. Thank you to the organizers for a top-notch secured event and all the volunteers for their care and encouragement. Congratulations to all the participating runners, especially the Slovaks, who smashed it there on almost all routes 💪
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