Swimming Across Lake Balaton In Ideal Circumstances

The organizers have got used to holding the Balaton Swim later than the day originally selected for the event – and they had to postpone the swim again this year, from the last weekend in July to August 1st due to the heavy wind. But the one-week delay did not discourage the ambitious participants, and according to the official report issued in the afternoon, exactly 9,299 people have completed the 5,200 meter distance between Révfülöp and Balatonboglár.

Even though this did not exceed the 2003 peak when more than ten thousand swimmers plunged into the biggest lake in Central Europe, the organizers had no reason to complain: it is not an overstatement if we say that this year’s Balaton Swim moved half the country again – there were some who started from Nyíregyháza or Békéscsaba at dawn, so that they could arrive in time. There were congestions on the motorway and the main roads leading to the lake due to the large number of cars heading for the event…

In spite of all that we can say that there were ideal circumstances waiting for the swimmers at Lake Balaton, since there wasn’t even a breeze and in the sparkling sunshine the temperature of the air rose to 31 degrees Celsius, and the temperature of the water was between 24-26 degrees.

Naturally, just like in every other year, the organizers of the Balaton Swim offered some specialities again: those who were interested could monitor the event live on the internet. A constant feature was that the contestants had to gather on the football ground of Révfülöp again. After entering the competition and passing the compulsory medical examination they set out from the nearby port to swim the more than five-kilometer distance.

Just like in the previous eight years, the professional, contracted, and retired servicemen, and the civil employees of the Hungarian Defence Forces toed the line again this year. The employees of law enforcement organizations were free to join them. More than three hundred contestants had registered for the “uniformed team" in advance, but dozens of new swimmers joined them at the start.

The "senior", that is Major General Zoltán Orosz, HDF Joint Forces Command (JFC) Chief of Staff crossed the Hungarian sea for the seventh time. He told honvedelem.hu before the start that he plays sports regularly so he does not prepare specially for the Balaton swims. In the previous years the general usually completed the distance in three hours. This year he was doing well again, for he reached the finish line on the Platán (Sycamore) beach in Balatonboglár after swimming for three hours and one minute.

The fastest competitor arrived almost precisely two hours before Gen. Orosz – we saw the official results in the afternoon –, for he completed the distance between the two shores in a mere sixty-eight minutes. Our world champion boxer, Zsolt Erdei finished in exactly the same time as the chief of staff of the JFC did…

Naturally, the soldiers had a role in the successful organization of the Balaton Swim not only as contestants but as background workers as well. The tents near the starting line were erected by the troops of the HDF 64th Boconádi Szabó József Logistics Regiment of Kaposvár again, and at the finish line assistance was provided by the aforementioned Kaposvár corps and the troops of the HDF Support Brigade of the capital.

On Platán beach a complete "military camp" awaited the participants. Dream Team, the off-road rally team of the Hungarian Defence Forces introduced themselves. Almost everyone wanted to get in the green Nissan Navara ATV of the Gepárdok (Cheetahs).

The young people were queuing in front of the JetFly simulator at the recruitment camion of MoD Zrínyi Non-profit Co., while in the recruitment tent of the Western Hungarian Augmentation/Recruitment Command several people were enquiring about professional and contracted military service. For the first time in the history of the Balaton Swim, MoD Cartographic Non-profit Ltd. introduced themselves with the help of the products manufactured by them and the new book releases of Zrínyi Kiadó (publishing house).

Volunteers were welcome at the tent of the National Blood Supply Service – the swimmers’ relatives and family members in the first place, so the employees of the Service were the most surprised to see that most of the contestants went to the tent to donate blood immediately after completing the 5,200 m distance… We have to mention here that many soldiers donated blood as well.

In addition to the abovementioned, the tent demonstrating the importance of selective waste collection, and the garrison band of Kaposvár, who were welcoming the swimmers right at the finish line on the shore of the lake, were also very successful.

Just like in any other year, those who swam across Lake Balaton were presented with a memorial T-shirt with the word "Megúsztam!" (’I have swum the distance’, also meaning ’I got away in one piece’, a pun) on it, and the organizers awaited the sportsmen at the finish line with refreshments and scones. A young man from Göd told us: he tried to count the number of strokes, but he lost track around four thousand. But like he said, he will try again next year!