We can see Budapest from a perspective from which no one else has been able to see it - the organizers of the Athletics World Cup have taken care of this as well.
The organizers want to provide visitors with an experience, so they will set up several support points in downtown Budapest along the street races of the World Athletics Championships starting on Saturday, said the CEO of the company organizing the event, Budapest 2023 Nonprofit Zrt.
Balázs Németh announced at Monday's press conference held on Hősök square that six of the 49 events of the World Cup, the men's and women's marathon, and the men's and women's 20 and 35 km walk, will have their start and finish areas on Hősök square, where the stands are already set up, and two a giant projector also works.
Next Saturday and Sunday, the participants will complete the classic 42.195 kilometer distance on the 10-kilometer track in downtown Budapest, running four laps. They start from Hősök tere on Andrássy út, then, touching the Academy, run across the Chain Bridge to Buda, after the Tunnel turn onto Attila út, then, passing in front of the Várkert Bazaar, return to Pest on the Chain Bridge, from there to Andrássy út.
"We provide an experience in addition to the walking and marathon competitions. The start-finish area will be here at Hősök square, and in addition to watching sports competitions, visiting spectators can also meet bands and listen to concerts," said Balázs Németh.
"In addition to the 10-kilometer circle, we are building several supporter points and supporter zones. The central locations will be the square in front of the Academy and the area in front of the Várkert Bazaar, as well as the Hősök square and its surroundings. Concerts, performers, parties, music, good atmosphere, experience, because in our minds this is what the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest means," he added.
According to the organizers, the performers will include Erika Miklósa and the band of the Hungarian Armed Forces. Follow the Violin will play before the women's marathon (August 26), while Szakács Gergő Akusztik will play the following day before the men's competition.
The CEO indicated that the cable camera's cableway between Hősök tere and Kodály körönd has been completed, with the help of which special images of the athletes and the city district can be seen for nearly a kilometer.
"There is a forty-meter-high crane standing here, which has its counterpart on the Kodály körönd. Both weigh sixty tons to be safe. The wire rope is 980 meters long, and at a height of 40 meters, a cable camera will race up and down it, which has never been used at this length at the World Athletics Championships, and we will be able to see the runners, pedestrians and the city from above. We show Budapest from a perspective that no one else has been able to see," emphasized Balázs Németh.
The head of the company organizing the World Cup added that the construction of the camera system was not an expectation from them, but the organizers definitely want to make the World Cup special both on the spot and for the fans in front of the televisions.
"We want to get the most out of this as well. It would not be mandatory to use cable cameras, it would not be mandatory to take the runners to the most beautiful parts of the city center, but we feel it is our duty to get the most out of the World Cup, so that the World Cup produces the most benefits from a social, economic and tourist point of view. That's why we took on this burden, including the organizational complication," he pointed out, indicating that the downtown location "has a price" and inconveniences local residents.
"Closings have already started in several places. In the following days, but mainly on August 26 and 27, there will be traffic restrictions and closures in a large area during the two marathon events. This is the price of being able to show the world the most beautiful parts of the Hungarian capital, but I think this price is worth paying".
Balázs Németh revealed that they have already sold over 300,000 tickets and according to the latest data, 52.3 percent of ticket buyers are Hungarian. Tickets were bought from 103 countries from abroad, the 103rd country being Qatar.
"We are extremely satisfied with ticket sales. We will be able to surprise the whole world with the atmosphere and the number of spectators already on the morning of August 19 at the National Athletic Center. It will be full even in the morning, I can promise you that, because we only have a few hundred tickets left for the first time in the morning," stated Balázs Németh.
MTI
