Cursa Corte Inglés

May 2, 2007 on 3:39 pm | In Uncategorized |

Of the numerous 10km fun runs held over the year in Barcelona, the Cursa del Corte Ingles attracts by far the biggest entry - and the race actually set what was then a world record for a fun run with no fewer than 109,457 entries in 2004.

That was an extraordinary achievement, but numbers are usually about half that, with last year’s race, for example, featuring 52,708 runners.

The main reason for the success of this race over any of the rivals is simple. It s free. What that means is that while federated and more serious’ athletes tend to feature prominently in most Barcelona fun runs, the Cursa del Corte Ingles is more of a free-for-all for anybody in the city to get up at a frighteningly early hour of a Sunday morning and have a trot around the city.

It is also promoted extensively, with the media figures brought on board to spread the word this year including Leo Messi (if anybody mentions that bloody goal once again…), Espanyol s Ferran Corominas, Barça manager Frank Rijkaard, and NBA superstar Pau Gasol’s younger brother, Marc.

Also, since 1986, the run has doubled as an event to raise money for charity, with the chosen good cause for 2007 being a local one, El Casal dels infants del Raval, with the catchy slogan being “Come to the Cursa El Corte Ingles and help the children of Raval! Don’t trump me!”

So as long as you can be sure you won’t go around trumping anybody (?), then the morning of May 6 is a top moment to get out there and join the rest of the good folk of the city on what. after all, is hardly the most arduous of runs (l O.OOOm is the equivalent of running around a standard athletics track 25 times, and even at a walking pace you can do that in about two hours).

The faster men generally finish the course in around 35 minutes, the women taking five or so more.

Until Saturday May 5th at 22.00 you can enrol for free by going to any of the branches of El Corte Ingles or Hipercor in the city (there s one in Placa Catalunya). You’ll be given your shirt number there and then. Othenwise, you have until Thursday 3 to register online at www.elcorteingles.es If you do that, you’ll have to get to the Corte Ingles in Pia^Qa Catalunya early on the day of the race (8 30 to 9.00) to collect your number

The wee map below marks out where the run, which starts and finishes in the Pla^Qa, will take you. You II be pleased to note that there will be plenty of victualling going on around the route, with for those you that don’t speak Spanglish. means ‘water station’. Use them… the London Marathon ended in tragedy last week with the death of one runner.

The truly nasty bit of the Cursa is the torturous climb up Montjufc, but it’s worth it, as the reward is the chance to do a lap around the Olympic track before a far more forgiving scamper back down the mountain and on the to finishing line.

For those of you that aren’t regular runners, do be careful. The Red Cross will be out in force, but as long as you pay good heed to the medical advice available on the Corte Ingles website (all in English), you should be fine

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