Hungarian Wins 1,001-kilometer Running Race

Hungarian ultra-runner László Barta has achieved another fantastic result by wining the world's longest cross-country race, the 1001-kilometer Megarace, which was held for the first time this year, the news site telex.hu reports.

Barta completed the distance - where competitors also have to overcome 24 kilometers of difference in altitude - in 254 hours and 12 minutes, which means he ran for more than a week and a half without stopping. Barta crossed the finish line late on Wednesday evening, beating second-placed Simon Gfeller, who finished almost 12 hours behind Barta on Thursday morning, by around 40 kilometers.

The Megarace was originally scheduled to take in three countries, Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria, but due to the coronavirus outbreak the entire route was designated in Germany. However, the organisers hope to run the race in three countries in 2022 as originally planned.

The field includes another Hungarian István Juhász, who was ranked eighth at the last count.