More than 25,000 people already have their running shoes ready to run in the Cursa El Corte Inglés. Some are elite runners, but the majority profile is that of the popular runner: many prepare for the race; others will participate without prior training and just to enjoy the most established popular race in the city.
Due to its free nature, its route, its trajectory, and its involvement with solidarity causes, the event attracts new runners every year. "Many people, throughout these 45 editions, have become fond of running with the Cursa El Corte Inglés," defended the president of the Catalan Athletics Federation, Mercè Rosich.
Runners, whether elite, amateur, or occasional, will run through the city on Sunday, May 11, starting at 9 am, with the same route since 2022. It was then that its traditional route, with start and finish at El Corte Inglés in Plaza Catalunya, changed to the current one, which now starts from its establishment on Diagonal to the one in Catalunya.
The urban circuit, exactly 10 kilometers long and approved by the Catalan Athletics Federation, will run along Diagonal until it meets Paseo de Gràcia; then, it will go down to Aragó street and continue along Viladomat street, until Gran Via. From there, it will continue zigzagging through the Eixample until it reaches Marina street, and then it will go along Casp until it reaches Plaza Catalunya.
The race, with more than 30,000 runners last year, already has 25,000 registered more than a month before the event. Registrations, which can be made online, reflect the parity that characterizes the event, with 51% men and 49% women already signed up, as detailed by Eva Franqués from El Corte Inglés.
At this time last year, the Cursa was close to 15,000 registered, 10,000 less than now; if the trend continues, it will surpass last year's figures. Although they do not set a target number of participants, the organizers have extended the available bibs to 40,000, with the aim that no one is left out, after a waiting list had to be opened last year.
And it is that running is fashionable in a Barcelona that has become a "city of races", as highlighted by the Sports Councilor, David Escudé. "From the City Council, we are working, and we believe we are achieving, that sport is fashionable," for the benefits it brings to health, but not only that: "Sport helps to amplify many messages."
The Cursa will also do so, acting as a loudspeaker for solidarity entities since 1986. In this edition, the city will run for the Xana Foundation, promoted in 2023 by former footballer and coach Luis Enrique and Elena Cullell, following the illness and death of their daughter Xana at the age of 9 from bone cancer. "When we experienced Xana's illness and death, we thought about what it would have been like without the resources to accompany the journey," explained the entity's secretary and Xana's aunt, Bela Cullell.
In this context, the foundation focuses on offering resources and support to families of sick children, many of whom are already eager to participate in the Cursa, either by running, distributing balloons, or informing about the foundation: "Children feel like protagonists, and knowing that a city runs for your cause is a huge emotional boost." Equestrian Sira Martínez, Xana's sister, will also contribute to the solidarity campaign, along with sports and music influencers, such as singer Joan Dausà, athlete Elena Congost, and footballers Ronald Araújo, Joan Garcia, and Cristhian Stuani.
In support of the foundation, three children, with Xana at the forefront, star in this year's poster, designed by artist Edgar Plans, with a motto: "Barcelona is the Cursa," emphasizing its connection with the city and its residents. The popular race, which has surpassed two million participants in its 45 editions, is on the calendar of many families, both to attend as spectators and to run. This was confirmed by the representative of Barcelona from the Generalitat's Department of Sport, Cesar Tovar: he pulled out race bibs from his pocket dating back to its eighth edition: "This race gave many of us the start in sports and in being a runner, although before we were simply called runners."
The Cursa was also that spark for Mary Palmer, who last month finished the Barcelona Marathon at 80 years old. "I got into running at 40 and started this way, because it's accessible." Palmer, a retired teacher who now works with disadvantaged children with the NGO Shamrock Nepal, will put on her running shoes again for this edition, as every year: "The Cursa El Corte Inglés has led me to do the Marathon."
Like Palmer and the rest of the runners, race bibs can be collected after free online registration at both El Corte Inglés Diagonal and Plaza Catalunya, and, for the first time, at Can Dragó, in an edition that will also feature the novelty of water provisions being served in compostable cups with Aigües de Barcelona, to reduce the generation of plastic waste.