Ferenc Győri (born September 15, 1964 in

Kiskunfélegyháza Kiskunfélegyháza () is a city in Bács-Kiskun County, Hungary. Geography Kiskunfélegyháza is located in the middle of the Great Hungarian Plain, southeast from Budapest. M5 motorway, Highway 5, 451, Budapest–Cegléd–Szeged railway line ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

) is a Hungarian ultramarathon runner, geographer, and university lecturer.

Education

He completed his high school education as well as his university studies in

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

. He earned his bachelor's degree with a double major in Physical Education and Geography from Juhász Gyula Teacher’s Training College in 1988. At the same time, he also became a qualified track and field coach with a degree from the University of Physical Education. He earned his master's degree in Geography from József Attila University in 1991 and defended his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

thesis at the Doctoral School of Earth Sciences at the

University of Pécs The University of Pécs ( , PTE; ) is one of the largest higher education institutions in Hungary. The history of the university began in the Middle Ages, when in 1367, at the request of Louis I of Hungary, King Louis I the Great, Pope Urban V gr ...

in 2010.

Athletic career

As a junior athlete, Ferenc Győri distinguished himself with his strong performances at the half marathon distance (21.0975 kilometers / 13.1094 mi). In 1995 he won grueling 230 km ultramarathon between Nyíregyháza and Budapest. He has four sub-7 hour 100 km performances under his belt. He also won three international 24-hour races and a 12-hour event. However, his masterpiece is his European championship title earned at the IAU 24 Hour European Championships in Courcon, France in 1996. IAU 24 Hour European Championship results 1996 http://statistik.d-u-v.org/getresultevent.php?event=7589

Sports diplomacy

Between 1996 and 2002 he worked as a liaison between the

International Association of Ultrarunners The International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) is the world governing body of ultra running, race events longer than the marathon distance of 42.2 km. It regulates and sanctions the World Championships for various ultramarathon distanc ...

(IAU) and the Hungarian Athletics Association. In 1998 he became an elected member of the Technical Committee of the IAU.

Scientific achievements

As a student researcher, Ferenc Győr finished 8th at the national competition for high schools and took second and third places with his research papers at university. Between 1992 and 1993 he was the recipient of a government grant. Between 1988 and 1993 he worked an external scientific fellow at the Békéscsaba base of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 1990 he was the recipient of the Teaching Researcher’s Grant of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 2011 he was promoted associate professor at the University of Szeged Juhász Gyula Faculty of Education.

Awards

* Hungarian Ultrarunners' Hall of Fame (2016) * Life Achievement Award for Ultrarunning (2010) * Saint Gellert Silver Medal (2002) * Commemorative Medal of the Hungarian Athletics Federation (1997)

References

External links

IAU 24 Hour European Championship results 1996
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gyori, Ferenc 1964 births Living people Hungarian male marathon runners University of Pécs alumni Hungarian male long-distance runners Sportspeople from Bács-Kiskun County Hungarian ultramarathon runners 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen