History

2006
11th November - TEST RUN
Seven runners, immense fun.
Time: 00:52:00

7th December - FIRST 6E
34 runners, some of them - being close to St Nicholas' Day - in Santa caps. HO-HO-HO!
Introducing 6E tickets and the portable ticket puncher (antique mechanical unit).
Time: 01:00:00

2007
12th January
Number of runners ???
First appearance in printed media: Spuri, the leading runner magazine reports from 6E.
www.6efutas.hu, the Hungarian blog launched.
Time: ??:??:??

9th February
49 runners. Carnival season, some runners in costumes.
Gotta keep the other half of the track free for ambulance.
Time: 00:54:25

9th March
Drizzling rain, days being messed up for a national holiday-extended week end --> next day a workday, still 20 runners.
Invention of the month: announcing the tram stops, like this:
"Name of the station?"
"MESTER UTCA!!!"
Time: 01:02:00

13th April
Nice weather, 20 runners, 1 cyclist. And a motorized fan commando! She drove ahead like 15 times, waited for the group with her husband to pass by. She waved, rooted and hooted, then drove ahead again. Fun and touching.
Time: 01:03:00

11th May
Balmy spring night, 37 runners, 1 cyclist, 1 dog. Invention of the month: all-out dash between Szena ter and Moscow Square. Optional 61E run returning to Moricz Zsigmond Circle via Alkotas-Villanyi Streets.
Rolo, a 6E fan tele-ran with us: being in NY, he did it in Central Park, his start time modified with time zones.
Time: 01:04:48

8th June
Balmy summer night, 50 runners (1 blind with escort, 1 on Kangoo bounces), 2 cyclists, 1 dog (in doggy visibility vest). We paid homage to Frank Sinatra while passing by the New York Building.
Time: 01:08:00

13th July
Coming up...

Legality:
After requests from different participants, in January I took the time to inquire the legality of 6E.
First round: Police. They said - after a nice meeting in their Budapest HQ - that not being a political demonstration, 6E is not their business. They referred me to the owner of the venue.
The actual owner of the tram track is the Mayor's Office. The competent authority guy was very friendly on the phone, but turned down my request for a permit. It is due to formal reasons. Mainly, that running along tram tracks amounts to "irregular pedestrian traffic", which, of course, is not something he could authorize.

Apparently, authorities close their eyes to 6E: noone has ever bothered us about it. After all, we do it as safe as possible: obeying traffic lights, being highly visible, etc.

Rules of the "FunRun"

These are the rules of the 6E - Budapest Midnight Run:

Definition
6E is an open, grass-roots "joy of sport" event. Its route follows the track of the tram line 6 in Budapest.
6E starts at midnight on the second Friday of every month in Moricz Zsigmond Circle (körtér), and it ends in Moscow Square.

Rules
1) 6E is free of charge, no registration, no fees.
2) Participating in 6E is voluntary, to everyone's own personal responsibility.
3) 6E is a strictly politics-free event.
4) Participants of 6E agree to running
- without disturbing the public order;
- not leaving the tram track;
- obeying traffic rules, especially traffic lights for trams;
- in a closed group;
- maintaining a steady trot (ca. 6:30 minutes per kilometer).
5) To make the event unbiased against beginners and/or short distance runners, it is not required to run the whole distance. Entering and leaving the run is to happen at the tram stops.
6) Wearing a high visibility vest is required for all participants of 6E.

These rules are not many, they are meant to keep the event safe and fun.

How It All Began

by KoBold, owner of the root password

Last summer, while training for my first half marathon, I had plenty of time for thinking. This is when the idea came:
Let there be a regular event for runners in Budapest, which is free, fun and extreme (to a certain extent). Playing around with Google's Pedometer I found, that the track of the (kind of landmark) tram line 6 is a pleasant 8,6 km long end to end. It is mostly flat. Good.
Checking tram schedules, making up safety rules, asking friends' opinion took no time.
After a short intermission of political demonstrations (and barricades, street fighting and other delicacies) in September and October, November finally brought the test run.
Which turned out to be immense fun.
So I started to sow the seeds of 6E Midnight Run in runner forums, the Critical Mass community, blogs, etc.
The rest is kind of history.