30th Race “El Corte Ingles” -A Race with Social Awareness
Sun 18 May
9.30am Pl.Catalunya/Passeig de Gràcia
The “El Corte Inglés Cursa” is one of the most important and better known popular races. The route is 11 kilometers long through the streets of Barcelona. The distance is officially recognized by the Federació Catalana d’Atletisme.
This is greatly due to the support given by both public and private institutions and, most of all, to the massive response of the citizens of Barcelona who, through their participation, have made it possible for the celebration of this sporting event to be eagerly expected year after year.
The Cursa held its first edition in 1979, when 17,184 runners took part, out of which approximately 85% were non-federated participants. By the year 1994 the number of participants in the Cursa had grown to 109,457 athletes, a number of runners that still today holds a Guinness Record. In its last edition, 52.708 persons took part in the Cursa. In the whole editions 1.615.962 runners had take part along his 29 years history.
Since 1986, the Cursa El Corte Inglés has offered its exceptional capacity for getting news coverage to organizations or civic events of special renown. Sport Aid – Tot el món corre per Àfrica (1986), Fundación de Ayuda Contra la Drogadicción – Engánchate a la Vida (1990), Intermón (1991), Manos Unidas (1994), FASE, Fundación Anti-Sida España (1995), Creu Roja (1996), Fundació Privada d’Investigació Cardiovascular (1997), la Fundació Internacional Josep Carreras (1998), Unicef – Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia (1999), Médicos Sin Fronteras (2000), Banc d’Ulls per a tractaments de la ceguesa (2001), Fundació Esclerosi Múltiple (2002) Fundación Vicente Ferrer (2005) Manos Unidas (2006) y el Casal dels Infants del Raval (2007) are the nongovernmental organizations that have had a leading role in previous editions of the event.
The adherence of the event to the Olymic Games and Paralympic Games in 1992 and in the celebration of events such as the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Guardia Urbana police force (1993) and the X World Police and Fire Games (2003) or the Universal Forum of Cultures (2004), are four good examples of this link between the race and the city that hosts it.
The 30th Cursa El Corte Inglés has strengthened its clearly social facet with it colaboration with the Red Cross.
(Taken from http://w3.bcn.es and www.cursaelcorteingles.net)
