The Hungarian Canoe Team practice at the Duck River Reservoir Thursday afternoon as they train to compete in the Birmingham hosted World Games.

The Hungarian Marathon Canoe Team trained at the Duck River Dam Reservoir on Thursday, July 14. This gave the athletes a chance to acclimate to the much higher temperatures of the American South than are experienced in their home country. Here is a Q&A the team had with The Times.

1. What has the experience been like so far during your time in Alabama? Have you had much of an opportunity to interact with locals, experience any local dining establishments that stand out?

The main purpose of our visit was to prepare for the World Games, the whole team focused on the acclimatization and the trainings. We didn’t have many chance to look around, but the local people are very friendly, they helped us with everything. The area is very nice and suitable for our training.

2. With the natural weather differences (warmer temperatures and higher levels of humidity) have you had to adapt your training regimen? For example has it proved challenging to compete during what is considered a heatwave even for this area?

Cullman and Duck River was proposed by the organizing Committee of the WG, they sent us the location and the facility. We are glad, that we found this place as it is perfect for our preparation. It was very useful for us to train a few days in Alabama before the competitions as the weather conditions are very different from the Hungarian conditions. The weather is really hot with a high level of humidity which presents a great challenge to our athletes. With the training camp at Duck River we had the chance to get used to the weather conditions and helps our athletes to cope with the weather challenges during the competition.

3. Was there any particular reason you chose Cullman and Duck River as a training area?

Local people are very friendly and helpful, they do everything for us to feel comfortable. We received everything, that we expected from visiting the US.