The competitive spirit is still with her today
Her diligence and perseverance took her so high high that, as a multiple Hungarian champion in the toughest athletic events and winner of international marathons, she was able to compete in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Ida Kovács, a distinguished VEDAC athlete, has showed that with a strong will, even the stars are within reach. Today, as a confectionery teacher at SÉF school in Veszprém, she develops young people's manual dexterity, aesthetic sense, and creativity, but since her muscles and joints have borne the rigors of monotonous work well, she has only taken off his sports shoes formally, and even today she often puts them on, and she also enjoys swimming, gymnastics, and weight training. Because that's how she feels good about herself.
Ida, 51, who lives in the City of Queens, has been involved in sports for more than four decades. Her parents enrolled her in the sports class at Dózsa School, where she went on to break school records one after another. At the end of the 1980s, she broke the 800- and 1500-meter records, which have not been surpassed since. At the age of 12, she joined László Koós Hutás's training group, where she began her climb to success. She was surrounded by teammates who were strong pillars of support throughout her career. As a member of BVTC and VSE, she played alongside Mariann Horváth, Éva Dóczi, Rózsa Szabó, Edith Stiglic, Judit Cservenka, Lívia Tóth, and András Kasza. Ida set herself ambitious goals, because otherwise she would have found their exercises a little boring. At the age of 20, in 1995, already a member of VEDAC, she completed the 42-kilometer distance at Mars Marathon in Visegrád for the first time, finishing in three hours and 24 minutes. Over the course of seven years, she improved her time to "two hours and thirty-six minutes," , which is still an amazing achievement today. In her private life, she was a rather reserved, moderate person: she always liked to push her limits on the sports field, which is how she became one of our country's best long-distance runners. She represented Hungary and Veszprém at the Olympic Games held in the Greek capital, but she is also proud to have been a seven-time Hungarian adult champion, to have won seventeen of her fifty-three marathons as a participant in the 1998 European Championships in Budapest, triumphing three times in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and coming first in the even more prestigious Florence competition, while finishing fourth in Stockholm. She stood on the top step of the podium four times at the 61-kilometer Zagreb ultramarathon once with a course record – and in 2002 she also crossed the finish line of the Budapest Marathon with a course record.
Sixteen years ago, she ran her last 42 kilometers, and although she did not write history in her sport, her career can be considered a beautiful journey.
"I graduated as a pastry chef, and for a long time I did this alongside running. I worked from six to two, then rushed off to our training sessions. I joined SÉF eight years ago, and I think I made the right decision to choose teaching. I enjoy working with kids. It's also a kind of challenge for me to figure out how to pass on my knowledge to them,"
– she says, and then it turns out: within the walls of the building, she strives to inspire young people (…and adult education participants) enjoys creating, brings joy to others through their activities, and makes special occasions or ordinary weekdays more enjoyable. With her instructor, kids are working to ensure that they not only create products, but also create experiences, and of course, that they can find employment in the labor market after graduating from school. Ida is now doing what once became her passion, continuing in a different way: she is introducing others to the secrets of the profession. While teaching is now her main focus, running and sports are still part of her life. This is hardly surprising, given that her discipline and commitment know no bounds. If anyone has ever believed in hard work, it is her, and once she set her mind on something, it was rare for anyone to dissuade her.
"I simply feel the need for regular exercise today. It's as if it's ingrained in me, which explains why I still do something for my health six days a week. I didn't really have to force myself to do this, because, as I mentioned earlier, daily exercise has always been a part of my life," she reveals her "secret." "Wednesday is the only exception, when I'm at school from morning until late evening, where my colleagues have heard and read about my sporting past, the kids aren't really aware of this, but that's okay. On Mondays, I usually go to the gym and/or exercise for an hour and a half - the latter is held by a former athlete mate – and I've noticed that strength training, stretching, and even rolling are good for me. I run on Tuesdays and Thursdays, usually 8-12 kilometers in different parts of our county, and on Fridays I swim for an hour. Well, not so that I can swim across Lake Balaton in the summer, but so that, with the help of an instructor, I can "overcome" my bad habits and be able to easily swim 500 meters, for example. Sometimes I also show up at spinning classes, where I am able to push myself to the limit. With the former VEDAC "hardcore" members, including Edit Stiglic, Lívi Tóth, András Kasza, Judit Cservenka, and Gabi Kovács, we would get together every weekend and cover 14-15 kilometers. We don't care about the weather, we only skip our joint program in case of heavy rain rain or frozen roads, because we no longer have the fanaticism we had when we were competing, i.e., that we must not miss a single day. We show up in Séd Valley or Tekeres Valley, and we also like bike paths. There are so many beautiful places nearby that we can "take a detour" in many directions. Of course, we have our favorite routes, but we don't stick to them tooth and nail. Most of the time, we encounter varied terrain, sometimes running on asphalt, then across fields and forest edges, up hills and down. I often run with my two doctor friends, Dóra Herrfurth and Zsuzsanna Bellér, whom I respect and admire in a special way for their dedication to health, and respect them for the fact that, in addition to their healthcare duties, and after their shifts, they consider our runs to be of vital importance and put a lot of energy into them. For them, running is like a kind of "braincleansing."
At school, Ida diligently teaches her students how to make our national pastry, the sponge cake roll, or the Linzer cookie. As a teacher, she finds joy in what she does, happy to be able to teach and pass on to others the knowledge she herself once absorbed. Interestingly, she never paid much attention to her diet, but she admits that she could pay more attention to it now, as there are still "hidden reserves" there. As I learn, she likes sweets, but she's not the type who raves about cakes and cream pastries; at the same time, she finds it hard to resist Ischler. She believes that you should eat what you want, but she tries to keep sweets in the background in her everyday life. She doesn't eat them at school either, only before exams.
"I'm not going to praise myself, because that's not my style, but at my age, I'm not dissatisfied with my shape or appearance. Fortunately, I don't have any health problems, which I think is due to the fact that I exercise a lot. I still enjoy various challenges, but of course I don't push myself as hard as I did when I was younger. I feel good this way, and I am convinced that sports contribute a lot to helping me cope with the challenges of everyday life. Most of all, it gives me perseverance. My goal is not to build muscle, but to exercise regularly to stay in shape. I still can't take most of my exercises lightly, because sport has taught me that if I want to achieve better results, I have to put the right amount of energy into my work. Whatever I do, it's good to see progress. Because I still have a competitive spirit, and you can't just get rid of that. I always try to raise the imaginary bar a little higher. If our running improves, the girls and I will enter smaller relay races, because it feels good to push ourselves a little, to run ourselves ragged."
Author: Ferenc Király