Endurance Tours in Transylvania

Below you will find some useful and descriptive information from Tamás Tóthpál’s book Kolozsvár környéki teljesítménytúrák (Endurance Tours around Kolozsvár) (Művelődés Kiadó, 2015) on how to organize endurance tours, as well as a history of endurance touring in Transylvania with a focus on the events organized by EKE – Kolozsvár 1891.

„For many people in Transylvania, the endurance tour is an unfamiliar concept. Those who only have heard about it may know only that it is a newer, more athletic branch of hiking. However, though few, there are people for whom it is not only endurance, or a hike, but also a creed and a ritual.
Our book is intended to be a promoter of this movement of unquestionably huge community shaping potential. Endurance touring is an unconventional, different approach to outings and natural attractions. It offers a more cultured, environmentally friendly form of recreation.
The book is also a cultural and tourist guide and inventory of Kolozsvár area hiking destinations.
Since its inception in 1998, the annual Mór Jókai Memorial Endurance Tour, organized by the EKE – Kolozsvár 1891, earlier known as the Kolozsvár chapter of the EKE, is considered to be the first Transylvanian endurance tour.
This was soon followed by the Egyeskő 60 in November 1999 and then other endurance tours.
In addition to enjoying the now “classic” Kolozsvár events, today’s enthusiasts in 2016 can choose from a growing number of EKE-organized endurance tours across Transylvania: Winter Ski and Hike Endurance Tour on the Hargita Mountain (Székelyudvarhely; since 2016); Mór Jókai Memorial Endurance Tour (Kolozsvár; since 1998); Zsolt Erőss Endurance Tour (Gyergyó; since 2014); Tour de Túr Bicycle Endurance tour (Szatmárnémeti; since 2006); István Kovács Endurance Tour in the Nemere Mountains (Háromszék; since 2015); Pál Vasvári Bicycle Memorial Endurance Tour (Kolozsvár; since 2001); Károly Kós Memorial Endurance Tour (Kolozsvár; since 2004); Hargita Endurance Tour (Székelyudvarhely; since 2003); South Hargita Endurance Tour (Csíkszék; since 2011); Samu Teleki Memorial Endurance Tour (Marosvásárhely; since 2007); Károly Lehmann Endurance Tour (Brassó; since 2016); Zsiga Székely Endurance Tour (Torda; since 2013).”

Tamás Tóthpál