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Following our midweek trek of Budapest we said goodbye to Mlungu Ryan as we parted ways and we headed to the south of Hungary to a little town, that was largely unknown to us, called Szeged. Now you might be wondering why on earth we would want to go to such a place but this small place was hosting a massive event, the Canoe/Kayak World Champs 2011, and we were out in all our rainbow nation coloured glory to support our competing homeboy and friend Shaun Rubenstein as well as all the other SA competitors. We joined a small team of fellow supporters made up of Shaun's family, wife, in-laws, cousin, us and the other non-family-related supporter Nicky.
To try and give you a better understanding of this event, we'll paraphrase how it was explained to us. Canoeing and kayaking is to Hungarians what rugby or cricket is to South Africans. It is a huge sport here and the country is fully behind its rock stars of the water. Attending the world champs in Hungary is supposed to be even better than watching these guys compete at the Olympics just because of the size of the crowds that it attracts and the vibe that the crowd brings to the races.
The town of Szeged itself is pretty small but it packs a punch. Apart from all the international supporters that piled in, the town was packed with its locals and fellow Hungarian supporters so the atmosphere was brilliant. Szeged is a university town during the study year and, for our South African readers, it is like a crossbreed of Grahamstown and Parys. There are some historical sites and some cultural things to see. There are shops a plenty and a large shopping centre that's near completion. But the best part of the city is sitting in its large central square while you watch the people passing by or heading to one of its many restaurants, bars or night clubs - after all, it's typically a student town and centered around the university lifestyle. We were even lucky enough to find some friendly locals to show us around.
We had a great weekend here and want to thank Shaun for inviting us along and the Rubensteins and Meltz's for taking us into the family. We had an incredible time with you all as well as getting to showour support and wave our flag at the races - even if we were made to feel like inferior men around all the male canoeists and kayakers (and female competitors for that matter).
Trek on…Brett and Darren
PS you can track what Shaun is up to on his blog: www.shaunrubenstein.com
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