Pablo Salaverria and Meritxell Soler, with a time of 30m23s and 32m44s respectively, won this Sunday the 44th edition of the Cursa El Corte Inglés, which brought together a total of 33,000 participants with the aim of raising funds for people affected by ALS.
Salaverria climbed into the box accompanied by Bilal Ziadi (30m32s) and Mohamed Azzouz (31m19s), while Soler, involved in preparing for the Paris Olympic Games in the marathon modality, crossed the finish line in first position followed by Douae Ouboukir (33m29s) and Cristina Silva (33m59s), last year's winner who significantly improved her 2023 mark.
The test, which repeated last year's route except for some small modifications in the final section, began at 9:00 a.m. in front of El Corte Inglés on Diagonal Avenue and ran through the main arteries of the center of the Catalan capital, such as Passeig de Gràcia, Aragó Street and Gran Via, among others, in a 10-kilometer route that ended in Plaza Catalunya.
The El Corte Inglés Race distributed the 33,000 numbers available in this edition, in which funds were raised for the Fundació Catalana d'ALS Miquel Valls, an entity that accompanies people affected by ALS and their families, and that supports the investigation of this neurodegenerative disease. This figure, the best of the decade after the pandemic, represented an increase of a total of 7,000 registered compared to the previous year (26,412).
The race has had the public support of the Barcelona players Robert Lewandowski and Sandra Paños, the Espanyol players Javi Puado and Carolina Marín, the singer Miki Núñez, the actress Laura Londoño, and the former soccer player, former coach and person affected by ALS, Juan Carlos Unzué, present at the start with an emotional speech.
Known as “the people's marathon,” the race draws a dizzying route, suitable for achieving personal bests. A paradise for popular athletes. Like Sandra Maldonado, from Fondiesteam, who signed an excellent 40m42s.
