Budapest Half Marathon

Budapest Half Marathon
Budapest Half Marathon
	Runners crossing Danube River in the 2010 Budapest Half Marathon race
Date	September
Location	Budapest, Hungary
Event type	Road
Distance	Half marathon
Primary sponsor	Wizz Air
Established	1984
Course records	Men's: 1:02:44 (1998); Seiji Hamada; Women's: 1:10:17 (2000); Mihaela Botezan
Official site	Official website
Participants	2,998 (2021); 3,779 (2020); 7,964 (2019)

The Budapest Half Marathon (complete name: Wizz Air Budapest Half Marathon, Hungarian: Wizz Air Budapest Félmaraton) is an annual road running competition over the half marathon distance (21.0975 kilometres (13.1094 mi)) which takes place in Budapest, Hungary in September. The route starts and ends in City Park and winds through the city center, offering views of some of the city's main sights, such as Andrássy Avenue with the Opera House, the Danube from the Széchenyi Chain Bridge and the Parliament. The 2017 event took place on Sunday 10 September.

The Széchenyi Baths in City Park, overlooking the starting point of Budapest Half Marathon

Race history

Between 1984 and 1993 annual half-marathon races were organized as a side event of the Budapest Marathon. In 1994 and 1995 the Budapest Marathon was discontinued and, since it was re-established in 1996, separate half-marathon races have been held in September, with Nike as the event's main supporter. From 2014 the event has a new main sponsor Wizz Air. The popularity of Budapest Half Marathon has constantly increased; the number of participants having grown from an initial 3000 to over 7000 individual runners.^[1] Currently the distance can be run either as an individual or as a relay in a teams of two or three. Competitors with disabilities may compete in wheelchairs.

Past winners

Source: Futanet,^[2] Half Marathon Race Guide 2013^[3]

Key: Course record

Year	Men's winner	Time (h:m:s)	Women's winner	Time (h:m:s)	Finishers
1996	Zoltán Káldy (HUN)	1:04:45	Simona Staicu (HUN)	1:11:11	1768
1997	Keita Fujino (JPN)	1:03:14	Sachie Ozaki (JPN)	1:11:04	2535
1998	Seiji Hamada (JPN)	1:02:44	Kazumi Kanbayashi (JPN)	1:10:37	2703
1999	Takaki Morikawa (JPN)	1:03:28	Tomoko Tamamushi (JPN)	1:12:15	3422
2000	Piotr Gładki (POL)	1:04:45	Mihaela Botezan (ROM)	1:10:17	4024
2001	Sreten Ninković (YUG)	1:04:43	Beáta Rakonczai (HUN)	1:13:33	3912
2002	William Kipsang (KEN)	1:02:59	Beáta Rakonczai (HUN)	1:13:39	4403
2003	Miklós Zatykó (HUN)	1:05:53	Anikó Kálovics (HUN)	1:11:08	4470
2004	Sreten Ninković (SCG)	1:06:51	Anikó Kálovics (HUN)	1:11:18	4601
2005	András Juhász (HUN)	1:05:57	Eszter Erdélyi (HUN)	1:16:10	5466
2006	Barnabás Bene (HUN)	1:06:32	Anikó Kálovics (HUN)	1:10:46	4964
2007	Balázs Ott (HUN)	1:07:19	Krisztina Papp (HUN)	1:12:09	5020
2008	Pasquale Rutigliano (ITA)	1:07:22	Beáta Rakonczai (HUN)	1:14:38	4930
2009	Ashenafi Erkolo (ETH)	1:07:24	Krisztina Papp (HUN)	1:15:27	4848
2010	László Tóth (HUN)	1:04:38	Krisztina Papp (HUN)	1:13:13	5520
2011	Tamás Kovács (HUN)	1:06:03	Anikó Kálovics (HUN)	1:15:04	6203
2012	Gábor Józsa (HUN)	1:06:36	Krisztina Papp (HUN)	1:15:07	6751
2013	Henry Kemboi (KEN)	1:05:53	Krisztina Papp (HUN)	1:12:32	7436
2014	Hillary Maiyo (KEN)	1:05:05	Nancy Nzisa (KEN)	1:15:14	7783
2015	Henry Kemboi (KEN)	1:06:28	Zita Kácser (HUN)	1:16:51	9074
2016	Henry Kemboi (KEN)	1:05:40	Christine Moraa (KEN)	1:18:53	8187
2017	Wycliffe Biwott (KEN)	1:06:52	Zita Kácser (HUN)	1:16:59	8315
2018	Matthew Kosgei (KEN)	1:06:50	Zita Kácser (HUN)	1:17:47	8669
2019	Laban Cheruiyot (KEN)	1:04:56	Zita Kácser (HUN)	1:14:47	7964
2020	Gáspár Csere (HUN)	1:06:30	Katalin Kovács-Garami (HUN)	1:18:53	3779
2021	Péter Jenkei (HUN)	1:06:18	Nóra Szabó (HUN)	1:12:21	2998
2022	Levente Szemerei (HUN)	1:05:00	Zsófia Virág-Erdélyi (HUN)	1:14:16	4175
2023	Albert Tonui (KEN)	1:04:09	Philice Cheboirot (KEN)	1:14:37	5186
2024	Levente Szemerei (HUN)	1:03:25	Nóra Szabó (HUN)	1:12:08	6870