History and present of the KST KOŠIČAN club

KST KOŠIČAN and KST

KST KOŠIČAN is a collective member of the Slovak Tourist Club (KST), on the basis of which all members can benefit from the benefits of being a member of KST KOŠIČAN.

In 2024, Peter Švec, B.S.B.A. was elected to the position of chairman of the KST until the end of its term.

CLUB STATUSES IN PDF FORMAT

The origins of the hiking section date back to 1951, when its predecessor was the railway tourist group, which also brought together tourists from the city and the surrounding area.

In 1953, preparatory work began with the annexation of the section to TJ Lokomotíva Košice, which was officially completed in 1954. The first chairman was Alexander Ružbašan, who created men's, women's and youth racing groups. They won victories in national orienteering races until 1963.

In 1961, Ladislav Menyhért took over the management of the tourism department. Gradually, the number of tourists expanded. A cycling section was also established in addition to the hiking and motorcycle tourism sections.

The tourism department lost an enthusiastic tourism organizer with the death of Ladislav Menyhért on December 15, 1977. Until September 1992, the Menyhért Memorial on Predná Holica was organized in his memory every year, which was attended not only by our tourists, but also by tourists from abroad. Since 1993, we have continued the Menyhért Memorial series with the Hviezdica Ascents on Predná Holica, and we organize the L. Menyhért Memorial itself in the more current December date.

Since 1977, the tourism department has been headed by A. Schlosár, F. Petráš and L. Soták. In 1998, Ladislav Soták resigned from his position due to his advanced age (over 80 years old) and the departmental presidency was taken over by a relatively young man, a railwayman in body and spirit – a train driver and tourism instructor – Jozef Kalapos, who is also the chairman of TOM Orlie pero.

In addition to the regular participation of members in summer and winter meetings, long-distance stage marches and summit events, the unit successfully organized the City Winter Meetings on Jahodná in 1990 and 1991 and the City Summer Meeting on Irmasek in 1995. Thanks to the good cooperation of the committee and the willingness of trainers and members, the unit also managed a very demanding task entrusted to it by the KTMK and KST - providing transport and 25 route guides for participants in the 33rd All-Slovak Winter Meeting of KST Tourists in 1999 in Košice.

The most active guide, Čeněk Čermák, prepared 71 hiking trails in the same year 1999, followed by Agnesa Delimanová with 44 hiking trails. In February 2000, our section successfully organized the 37th winter meeting of Košice hikers on Predná Holica. Last year, our members also participated in the 1st international Czech-Polish-Slovak winter meeting of hikers in Čadca, and in September 2000, we prepared the ceremonial handover of the Lajoška hut to the tourist public as part of the 8th annual Star Ascent to Predná Holica. In 2000, members of the hiking section of TJ Lokomotíva Košice organized almost 150 events, including 14 skiing events, during which they completed a total of 2,510 km.

In the year of the celebration of the 55th anniversary of the establishment of TJ Lokomotíva Košice, but also in the 50th anniversary of the establishment of organized railway tourism in the city, under the auspices of the committee of the committee headed by its chairman Jozef Kalapos, in cooperation with the committee of TJ Lokomotíva Košice, on the occasion of these anniversaries, the section organized a trip in the summer called Behind the most beautiful views of the Slovak Paradise and in addition, several events already included in the nationwide KST calendar.

The ceremonial academy for the 50th anniversary of the tourist section in 2001 was preceded by the preparation and implementation of the 9th annual Star Climb to Predná holica, at which the TJ Lokomotíva Košice section was ceremoniously presented with the Commemorative Plaque of the Slovak Tourists Club by the secretary PhDr. Ladislav Khandl. The founding and first chairman of the section, Alexander Ružbašan, also attended this ceremonial act. To mark this anniversary, a bus trip to the Polish Tatras with a climb to Kasprowy Wierch from Zakopane was organized. This year, the youngest members participated in the international EURORANDO 2001 relay race with a destination in Strasbourg, France. They participated in the relay race in Poproč, Sv. Jure near Bratislava and on the Austrian border in Jarovce. At that time, cooperation with the First Slovak Cycling Club Košice, whose members were also our tourists, also developed interestingly. The unit informally cooperated with the Czech Association in Slovakia. At the request of this association, Čeněk Čermák and Jozef Kalapos modified and marked the educational trail of Czechoslovak legionnaires in the Košická Belá - Nemcova dolka section leading from Turne nad Bodvou to Kysak.

Former member of our hiking team, Michal Fulka, became the holder of the IVV (International Volkssport Verband) Gold Badge, Vojtech Ladon received the silver badge and Stanislav Baran the bronze badge.

The hiking section committee of TJ Lokomotíva Košice worked in the jubilee 50th year of existence (year 2001) in the following composition: Jozef Kalapos – chairman, JUDr. Michal Fulka – vice-chairman, František Petráš. Čeněk Čermák (the most active guide) and Agnesa Delimanová – members.

At an important annual meeting in January 2003, it was decided to become independent from the parent TJ Lokomotíva Košice and create an independent civic association.

The inaugural All-round Hiking Club KOŠIČAN was established at the founding meeting on February 4, 2003. This ceremony in the premises of TJ Metropol was attended by 45 founding members of our 52-year-old predecessor, the Hiking Section at TJ Lokomotíva Košice, who approved the club name, flag, badge, statutes, and members of the board of directors.

Milan Eliáš was elected as the first chairman of the successor club, JUDr. Michal Fulka as vice-chairman and Jozef Kalapos, František Petráš and Michal Vedródy as members. In 2004, the club had 74 members, in 2005 - 98 members, in 2006 - 87 members.

At the annual membership meeting in January 2007, after the end of the 4-year election period, Jozef Kalapos (chairman of the marking commission) received the most votes in the secret ballot, who, with thanks for the trust, handed over the position of club chairman for the next election period to the second in line - Ing. Ladislav Molnár.

In 2007, the tradition of annual meetings of members at the so-called KVT Košice Day in selected locations began. This is an event that unites the club's collective of different age groups and fitness levels. Since 2008, the celebration of International Women's Day with the secret goal of an easy hike for participants under the leadership of the board of directors has also become a tradition.

The public is also attracted by the unconventional event of the Moon Walk, evening walks in the surroundings of Košice at the full moon since 1976. This event was left to the club by our former member Karol Hrubý in 2007 and he entrusted the leadership of the tours to hiking guide Jozef Kalapos. The 40th year was held in 2016 and the jubilee 500th moon walk took place in May 2017.

In 2008, four participants of the foreign high-altitude event KVT Košičan climbed Mont Blanc, and in 2013, three more members and one guest successfully completed a demanding 14-day backpacking trek - the Tour du Mont Blanc.

The club also takes care of the education of its members, so in cooperation with the PREVYK club from Prešov, the KVT Košičan organized a two-day VHT course in the field on Bodoni in 2015, which was attended by 16 members and 3 VHT instructors. In 2016, the club organized, in cooperation with the co-author of the book "Highland Tourism" - about safe movement in high mountains, a course focusing on the social and ethical aspects of tourism and on terrain orientation and working with a map on Jahodná. The course was attended by 15 members and 3 lecturers. In 2017, two courses were organized. The first was a full-day Nordic walking course at Štrbské Pleso with a national trainer and also the president of SNWA. The course was attended by 8 members. The last course we organized was a four-day course for 1st class hiking instructors in Košice. The course was attended by 13 members of the Košice Community Center, 3 members of the Weekend Community Center and 4 lecturers.

In 2016, some of our members completed the project "The Paths of the Heroes of the Slovak National Uprising" from Dukla to Devín with an extension from Kremenec to Dukla. It was a project of multi-day expedition stages with a backpack, which began in 2012 with a five-day crossing of the Low Tatras. The last - six-day stage ended in Myjav and Devín.

In 2016, our original website www.kvtkosican.szm.com received a new and modern look. Since the website was created in 2008, this is the third design proposal and expansion of thematic areas. Since 2014, we have also been on the social network FB. This year, KVT Košičan commemorated the 65th anniversary of the founding of the hiking section - its predecessor. The Košičan All-round Hiking Club is affiliated with the Slovak Tourists Club and at the same time with TJ Lokomotíva Košice.

In 2018, KVT Košičan registered 104 members. Thanks to the diversification of activities, interested people from the younger generation are also applying to the club. At the Annual Membership Meeting on February 13, 2018, the current chairman Ing. Ladislav Molnár, who had been in office for less than three terms since 2007, resigned from his position. The General Assembly approved Jozef Kalapos as the acting chairman of KVT Košičan by an absolute majority of votes until the end of the regular term of office in 2019.

At the Annual Membership Meeting on January 22, 2019, Jozef Kalapos was confirmed as chairman, along with committee member Ľubica Hajdeckerová. The other committee members were the young and new hiking instructors Renáta Michnová, Radoslav Medzihradský and Peter Horváth. All three new members showed enthusiasm for planning events in a relatively short time, ensuring a smooth transition of the generational change of march organizers.

On July 1-7, 2019, our club organized the 66th Slovak KST meeting and the 50th TOM meeting in Košice. Our member Renáta Michnová became the initiator and chairwoman of the organizing staff. The staff consisted of almost twenty members and the marches were led by several dozen organizers. In addition to our club, KT Víkend and several members of other clubs also participated in organizing the meeting. The chairwoman and staff managed to do the almost impossible, to raise enough funds, agree on cooperation with the municipality, villages, ensure housing, a cultural program and prepare enough tourist routes for the participants of the meeting. We set the bar quite high and we are rightly proud of the successful management of the meeting.

After reaching a significant life anniversary, Jozef Kalapos decided to resign from the position of club chairman at the annual membership meeting on April 8, 2022, and the entire club management resigned with him. Subsequently, the club members present elected Renáta Michnová as the new chairman, Pavel Babej as vice-chairman, and Milena Šulíková, Anna Strelcová and Ladislav Lendel as committee members. We now have younger tourists in the club management.

Effective from 30.6.2023, the stamp, logo and flag of our club have been changed. At the same time, the name of the club has been changed from KVT KOŠIČAN to KST KOŠIČAN. The changes are part of the CLUB STATUSES.