Successful season-opening press conference

28 April 2010

The Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the Dextro Energy Triathlon  ITU World Championship Series Grand Final Budapest 2010 held a press conference in the Lágymányosi bay of Budapest on the 27th of April, 2010, where András Lányi - President of the Hungarian Triathlon Federation, Roland Mányai - Director of LOC, Petra Schmitt - Marketing Director, Zoltán Péter Nagy - Marketing Director of OTP Bank and Xavier Heylen - Vice President of Toyota Motor Hungary participated.

The conference was opened by András Lányi, who emphasized that with the aim of the event of the year, the values and beauty of triathlon sport can be revealed to a vast number of people. This is going to be a very rare opportunity for the Hungarian triathlon community and every athlete, as their competition will be  supported by their own nation, friends and family, and will take place on such a beautiful route. By swimming in the Lágymányosi bay, then cycling and running along both sides of the Danube, crossing over the famous Chain Bridge, and finally finishing on Roosevelt square, the triathletes will be part of a sightseeing tour, which even includes the Buda Castle and the Parliament building.

Roland Mányai pointed out that the race is very important for the tourism industry too, as more than 6000 competitors and supporters are expected to visit Budapest, resulting in 250-300 million Forints (app. 1 M EUR) of tax income. On the other hand, the event will cause some inconveniences in the traffic in the heart of the city, but the organisers will do their best to make all relevant information available on the competition’s website. The good news is that the cycling track requires better roads, thus reparations have to be conducted on the city center’s streets.

Hungarian Television has confirmed to broadcast the elite races live. Via 25 international channels, pictures of Budapest can reach 200 million spectators in almost 180 countries. This has a great value for the capital and also for Hungary, which is another reason the Grand Final is  supported by the Ministry of Local Government,  Budapest Mayor’s Office and the District V. and District XI.  local governments.

Zoltán Péter Nagy, representative of OTP Bank said they are pleased to have the opportunity to be the local presenting sponsor of the event. They would like to encourage many professional and amateur athletes to try triathlon, as the sport of triathlon enjoys a growing level of popularity. Triathlon also provides variety in the long run, the joy of exercising outdoors, as well as a great tool to prove ourselves. In the meantime, the triathlon community is a rather welcoming one, supporting amateurs enthusiastically, which creates a unique atmosphere at the races.       

The already special world championships is further enhanced by the Local Organising Committee’s initiative named Green Triathlon®, which makes the Budapest race the first environmentally conscious, “green” triathlon world championships. The primary goal of the program is to raise awareness of the interrelation of sports and the environment, and will actively involve competitors, spectators, partners as well as the media in various activities and programs. More specifically, the goal of Green Triathlon® is the reduction of pollution and waste generated by the event, as well as focus on recycling through selective waste collection and processing.     

Petra Schmitt, the visionary of the idea was happy to announce that several partners already joined the program, including the “official green carrier” of the world championships, Toyota Motor Hungary. Vice President Xavier Heylen, emphasized how glad they were to support the Green Triathlon® initiative, as Toyota is leading the environmentally conscious auto manufacturing industry worldwide. They would like to contribute to the air-pollution reduction effort with their hybrid and low CO2 emission vehicles Toyota provides for the event.      

The event’s other featured green partner is the Hungarian Olympic Committee’s “Head to the green” program, which has been an advocate of environmentally responsible sport for years. Representing the program, Hungarian sport icons Kinga Bóta, Gábor Balogh and Zsolt Erdei joined the press conference, who would like to raise awareness of the responsibility athletes have to protect our environment, as the health of our environment is also part of our own health.  To symbolically convey this message, they planted the Green Triathlon® tree in the popular park of the Lágymányosi Bay (location of the Grand Final race center in September).  The athlete ambassadors also took part in a playful triathlon training: completing a hilly, 1.5 km bike route with the help of a simulation program. Gábor Balogh proved to be the fastest with a 2 minute 21 second result, closely followed by his fellow ambassador teammates. Training is due as they too will compete in the team-relay event held during the first day of the Grand Final.