December 2009
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Aniko Kalovics promoting a Marathon mindset |
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11.03.2008 |
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Aniko Kalovics relaxing on one of her very few days off Marathon training.
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For the majority of top international
distance runners and national record-holders, fame in their home nation is
usually a guaranteed bi-product of their hard-earned success.
Yet despite top marathon runner, Aniko
Kalovics tirelessly pounding the roads and racing across the continent against
the World's best, major championship success is not the sole challenge that
faces this diligent 30 year-old; as she also embodies a one-woman battle to
promote the sport she loves in her homeland Hungary and subsequently gain the distinction
she so richly deserves.
With sports such as football and water-polo
taking precedent in the Hungarian psyche, Kalovics' believes that her athletics
achievements have been some what under-acknowledged by the public in recent
years; causing the Szombathely-born runner to switch allegiance to an Italian
club; Co-Ver Mapei in 2004.
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Mud, road or mountain, no terrain is too tough for
this endurance enthusiast. |
"The Hungarians do not see road running as
being of equal importance to track and cross-country," the prolific road-runner
explains, "they see road and cross-country running as the lowest point of
athletics. I have never been ‘athlete of the year' but I've run a national
record every year and you can read about me on the IAAF website almost every
week."
Regardless of the frustrating lack of
encouragement, the Hungarian record-holder at 10km up to the half-marathon is
adamant on remaining loyal to her roots,
"I am not famous but like it like that.
People know me more abroad than in my home-country, it's a typical Hungarian
story. But the road races abroad are becoming more popular and in Hungary too."
And Kalovics knows the road scene better
than most, since establishing herself amongst the global elite in distance
running,
"I am very proud of my Hungarian half-marathon
record in Milan
and my performance in the 2007 Great North Run," the 2006 World road running 11th
placer reveals.
Boasting personal bests of 31:40 (10km),
68:58 (half-marathon) and 2:26.44 for the marathon, and registering impressive
victories in the Cannes, Turin and Capri 13.1-milers in 2007, Kalovics has
truly catapulted herself onto the athletics radar.
However, running was not the
Adidas-sponsored, triple national 5,000m Champion's first love. Her father took
her swimming at aged 5 because, as Kalovics describes, she was "full of
beans". Training twice-a-day until aged
14, in addition to a tough running schedule from aged 14, the arduous exercise
regimes began to take their toll;
"I was always faster than the boys, but two
sports were too much. I was tired and used to fall asleep at school! I chose
running, as I was more successful in it. The success as a teenager gave me more
motivation to go for my big goal; my dream was always the Olympics."
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Aniko at her favourite training camp in St Moritz
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Swimming's loss was most certainly
athletics' gain, as the Zsolt Zsoder-coached athlete quickly developed into an
international competitor by aged 18; finishing 6th in the 1995 European Junior
10,000m and 11th in the World Junior 5,000m the following year, although, it
was not until the 1998 European Championships when the tall, gracious Kalovics
broke into the top international class with an 8th place finish in the 10,000m
Budapest final.
Exceptional championship performances
became a regular occurrence thereafter, with 20th place positions in the 2003
World and 2004 Olympic Games 10,000m, and an impressive five top-five finishes
in the European Cross Country Championships between 2002 and 2007 - the most
noteworthy of which included collecting the bronze medal in the 2003 event and
most recently, finishing 5th in the 2007 edition - all of these accomplishments
are detailed on her insightful website, www.anikokalovics.com .
Flash-forward to the present and the outgoing
Hungarian is looking ahead to realising her marathon dreams. With the
confident, ultra-consistent runner's ability and race distances gradually
stepping up a gear, the 26.2 mile challenge is the key motivating factor in her
average 110-130km training week,
"My future is the marathon; I hope to
become a very good marathoner and my dream is London 2012," divulges Kalovics. "After
London, I'd
like a baby and after that, if I still have pleasure in running, I will compete
until I'm 40."
With such an exhausting daily routine -
which can extend to 150-180km per week during specialist marathon training - the
distance-enthusiast ensures regular sessions of stretching and sleep are
incorporated into her busy day.
"I try to avoid injuries by also having
massage after every training session," she reveals.
The epitome of a focused, determined World-beater, Kalovics speaks with intense passion about the sport that she
prepares for so meticulously. Asked
whether she enjoys the constant travelling to foreign races, she responds,
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Aniko and Zsolt, the man she describes as Coach, training partner, masseur
and driver. Behind every great woman...
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"I love to compete! If the race is further
than 1,000km, I will travel by plane alone. It is very varied, I run in many
different cities, distances and terrains. The last 2 or 3-years were very
crowded; I took part in about 40 competitions a year. If I want to be a better
runner, I have to cancel out a lot of races. The nicest race was my first
marathon, in Capri in Italy,
2006. This race changed my life - the next week, I got three marathon
invitations," Kalovics recalls.
Although the runner-up in the 2007 Great
Manchester Run admits she likes to compete regularly so she can ease back
slightly on the volume of training, Kalovics speaks keenly about her gruelling
regime;
"My favourite training venue is St Moritz - it's simple,
perfect for runners. It has no traffic, no noise and most importantly for me, I
can do my long runs along soft ground," she explains. Based there for
two-months between June and early September, eight-week training stints to the
south of France
in the spring are additionally scheduled.
"It's 10-15-degrees there so I'm going to
train that's where I've been training for Rome (Marathon this Sunday). Then after a long training camp,
it is very good to return home."
Although not a regular place of residence,
"home" in the West Hungarian province is the venue where Kalovics can
temporally live a ‘normal' life;
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Aniko with her Marathon idol and toughest
competition, World record holder Paula Radcliffe.
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"Myself and Zsolt," - the man she describes
as her coach, training partner, masseur and driver - "bought a house with a big
garden there before Christmas. We haven't moved in yet, as it needs a revamp,
but we won't spend too much time there; I have to focus on the running."
In addition to Zsolt; her coach of 3-years,
partner of 7 and former Triathlete and Hungarian Ironman Champion, Kalovics'
proud parents are priority in her life; so much so, the animal-lover is secretly
planning on buying them a house, after saving her race-winnings.
Kalovics doesn't demonstrate the same
closeness with her rivals though,
"I'm good friends with my rivals but we
haven't a lot of time to make friends; before the race, everybody concentrates
and afterwards everyone goes back to the hotel and flies home."
On the opponents she admires, Kalovics is
keen to highlight the World-marathon record-holder;
"I look up to Paula (Radcliffe); she has a
very good mentality to keep a great tempo on her own, and I also like Yelena
Prokopchuka."
For now though, Kalovics is 100% focused on
number one; with high hopes for her 2008 season. Following her 4th place finish
in the World Cross-Country Challenge in Brussels and 5th in the Great Edinburgh
Cross-Country, she is looking ahead with the same inspiring enthusiasm and
resolve for the rest of 2008;
"My main goal is the Rome Marathon (16th
March) and if I run very well there, next is my big dream; the New York Marathon
in November. I won't compete in the Marathon in Beijing, as I don't have enough experience
and the heat and humidity there is not good for European runners."
An alternative would be for the Hungarian to
attain the tough 31:45 10,000m national qualifying time for the Olympic Games,
but the marathon is evidently where Kalovics' heart lies and you do not have to
spend long with this determined lady to know that she has the stuff it takes to
go the distance.
By Nicola Bamford for European Athletics
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