Home / Semmelweis News / Education and community /

Athletes of PAK won gold medals at the Frame Running Cup

By Gabor Kiss

The former students of the András Pető Faculty (PAK), athletes of the Pető Sports Association won four gold and two silver medals at the 25th Frame Running International Camp and & CPISRA International Cup. They took part in the event, held in Copenhagen from 10-17 July, together with their parents, who also played a major role in their training.

After three years of absence, the Frame Running team of the András Pető Faculty’s sports association returned to the world competition. They ran for the National Student, Competition and Leisure Sports Association of the Disabled (FODISZ), participating in the 25th edition of the Frame Running Cup held in the Danish capital.
 
Diána Vanda Bán, 15, eighth grade, won gold medals in 800, 200 and 100 metres in her age group in the RR2 category. 23-year-old Réka Deák, also competing in RR2, won the gold medal in 800m, while 21-year-old Gábor Márk Chis, competing in RR2, and 21-year-old Bernadett Laklia, competing in RR1, won silver medals in 800 meters.
 
Athletes with disabilities can race their frame runners in groups between RR1 and RR4 according to their level of disability, with RR1 being the classification for the most severely limited. All members of the Hungarian team were students of PAK, three of them are currently training at the Pető Sports Association, the sports foundation of PAK, and one of them at the Kaposvár Athletic Club.
 

Gallery

11images
 
This year’s Frame Running Cup was attended by 180 competitors from 18 countries, with the largest number of participants, 18, in the 200 meters, and Diána was the fastest of the three best runners in the preliminary heats, the team’s coach, conductor Zsolt Domokos told our website.
 
Zsolt Domokos said that each device costs 6-800 thousand forints, two of the 8 bikes used at the workshop are owned by PAK, the rest belong to the PAK sports association. At the moment, a total of 12 students attend the one-hour training sessions per week, juniors and seniors alike. The most talented students take part in the competitions.
 

Frame Running – a Danish invention

Frame Running is an innovative sport for disabled people with impaired balance. It is a Danish invention, the first Frame Runner was constructed in 1991. It is a custom-built tricycle “learner bike” without pedals on which balance is not a problem.

Frame Running is an obvious sports option for people with cerebral palsy, arthritis sufferers and amputees. It gives the disabled who normally can only get around in electric wheelchair, manual wheelchair or walker the ability to run.

They have qualified for the competition for the fifth time since 2011, when the sport started in Hungary. Due to the financial burden of participation they do not have the opportunity to do so every year but they regularly participate in invitational domestic competitions.

Among the team members, Bernadett, who has been cycling as part of PAK for 11 years, has competed in the European Championships 3 years ago. Márk and Réka have been involved in the faculty’s sports club for 6 years, Diána for 4 years.

The Hungarian team was accompanied in Copenhagen by Klára Mónika Benkő, Rita Völgyi, József Laklia and Gábor Chis.

 

In 2024, Frame Running will be the debut sport at the Paris Paralympics, and PAK played a significant role in creating the scientific background for its preparation” – emphasized Zsolt Domokos. Seven years ago, for a year and a half, the necessary tests for the application for becoming an Olympic sport were carried out here and the scientific results were communicated, he added.

The sport, developed for athletes with disabilities, started in Denmark in 1991 and has spread to many countries around the world, including the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Great Britain, Poland and then Hungary in 2011.

Anita Szepesi

Translation: Gábor Kiss

Photo: Attila Kovács – Semmelweis University; Frame Running team