Debrecen4U
July 14, 2025
Debrecen Extreme Sports Park: Where Adrenaline Meets Action
The facility manager of DEBEX, Tamás Vígh talked about the changing opening hours, visitor numbers, future goals, and programmes.
The Debrecen Extreme Sports Park, or DEBEX, opened its doors in 2023 and has since attracted over 23,000 visitors. They primarily aimed to serve the needs of extreme athletes by opening the facility, but now they also organise running bike races, and visitors can also do Zumba. The facility manager of the Extreme Sports Park, Tamás Vígh, told Dehir who can use the track, what protective equipment they should not leave at home, and what programmes they can participate in at DEBEX this summer.
DEBEX is basically an extreme sports park targeting new-age Olympic sports, which also has the goal of helping Hungarian athletes obtain a possible Olympic quota.
That is why a BMX track suitable for organising an Olympic-scoring competition was built, but the country’s largest skateboard track is also located here. In addition to these, there is a trial track, since Debrecen had a big trial life years ago.
And what is a trial? An individual sport, the essence of which is that using a special bicycle, the competitor maneuvers and balances along an artificial or natural track designed for this purpose. The goal is to overcome obstacles with as little “physical contact” with the ground as possible.
In order to involve children, a pump track was created, where children can also cycle on a simple bicycle with their parents, but they also hold training sessions for beginner cyclists there, or skill-building sessions, and in June they also organised the first balance bike and pump track competition, which was a great success among the little ones.
Tamás Vígh said in this regard that he had a very long-standing desire to organise a balance bike competition at DEBEX.
“This has a long tradition in China; I saw it in other countries, and I thought there would be interest in it in Hungary too. The basic goal was for everyone to have a good time, which is why we didn’t rank the children. My intuition was right, so we have already set a date for the second such competition, which will be held on Saturday, July 26,” he said.
As he explained, the primary target audience of the Extreme Sports Park is the recreational athletes, who basically don’t compete; they just like to do sports, and they like this community.
“The competitive athletes’ group is based on this, which is much narrower. Many people start using the facility by going with friends, later for training, but there are also those who go to train on a daily basis, but they do not have the motivation to compete,” we learned.
A helmet is mandatory for everyone, on all sections of the track. In addition, BMX riders are recommended to wear a helmet with a face shield, and scooter riders generally use gloves, but it is also recommended to use knee and elbow pads, depending on the sport.
It also turned out during the conversation that DEBEX’s opening hours will change from Monday: to meet the increased visitor demand, the park will be open from 8.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m., both on weekdays and weekends, and on holidays.
The park reopened on March 1 this year, during which time nearly 6,000 entries were registered. The park is expected to welcome extreme sports enthusiasts until mid-November, but this may change depending on the weather.
He also mentioned that they are stable with professional sports competitions, and they regularly organise important BMX competitions, the National Skateboarding Championship, and the Trial competition.
“We would like to open up to the public more now, and therefore we are planning a morning Zumba event on July 27, where a “Move, Debrecen!’ instructor will hold the programme,” he revealed.
He pointed out that it is very important that the park is known in the city, which is why they are trying to open up to people who are not necessarily extreme sports enthusiasts with various programmes.
He also talked about future plans and goals.
“We are preparing for the European Championships in the trial sport with one of the competitors, and in September we will visit Denmark, where the DSI cyclist, Barna Klepács, will compete in the junior category. We are establishing more and more sponsorship relationships, and more and more people are seeing the potential of the park. On the one hand, because we are addressing groups that cannot be reached with general sports, and on the other hand, we represent a line that is still unique and provides opportunities for extreme athletes to break into the international arena,” he explained.
Finally, he said that there was a great demand for such a facility not only in Debrecen but also nationwide. According to him, this is also demonstrated by the fact that when a competition is organised, international competitors also come here.
Source: dehir.hu | Photo credit:debrecen.hu
