The Vueling Cursa Bombers Barcelona celebrated this Wednesday the official presentation of its 27th edition in a venue especially meaningful for the event: the Barcelona Fire Museum. The event brought together institutional representatives, members of the organization, athletes, and members of the firefighting community to reveal the main details of a new edition of one of the city’s most representative popular races.
With more than two decades of history, the Vueling Cursa Bombers Barcelona has become a reference point within the Barcelona sports calendar. A race that has managed to blend the demanding nature of 10 kilometers with a distinctly popular character and an identity closely linked to the Bombers de Barcelona.
This bond has once again occupied a prominent place during a presentation that highlighted the event’s history and its ability to continue mobilizing thousands of runners.
The Vueling Cursa Bombers will bring together 16,000 participants
The 27th edition of the Vueling Cursa Bombers Barcelona will feature 16,000 registered runners, a figure that confirms the event’s capacity to attract participants and its fully established position on the city’s sports calendar. Regarding gender distribution, 60% of participants are men and 40% are women, while 91% originate from the Province of Barcelona, a fact that underscores the race’s strong roots in the territory.
The profile of participants also reflects the event’s popular nature, with an average age of 36 years and a predominant age range between 30 and 39 years. These figures demonstrate the Vueling Cursa Bombers’ ability to bring thousands of people together around sport and to turn the streets of Barcelona into a large stage for popular athletics.
A quick tour of Barcelona’s most emblematic streets
The Vueling Cursa Bombers Barcelona will once again offer a fast and dynamic 10-kilometer route, designed for runners who want to improve their personal best as well as for those who simply wish to enjoy the experience of racing through the city streets.
With a start and finish on Avinguda del Marquès de l’Argentera, the circuit will pass through some of Barcelona’s main arteries, such as Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, Avinguda del Paral·lel, Passeig de Colom, Passeig de Sant Joan, Carrer de Casp and Via Laietana.
A route that blends wide avenues and fast segments with the characteristic atmosphere of a race that, in every edition, turns the center of Barcelona into a grand stage for popular athletics.
Solidarity commitment
The Vueling Cursa Bombers Barcelona 2026 maintains its charity commitment in collaboration with Bombers Solidaris, which enables runners and supporters to drive solidarity challenges in support of non-profit entities in areas such as health, medical research, social inclusion, international cooperation, or childhood.
The event featured appearances by David Escudé, Barcelona’s Councilor for Sports; Sebastià Massagué, head of the Civil Protection, Prevention, Firefighting and Rescue Service; Anna Viladot, Vueling’s director of communications, and Mauro Llorens, representative of the race organization.
Also in attendance at the presentation were Joan Vehils, director of SPORT; Gemma Martínez, director of El Periódico; Mercè Rosich i Vilaró, president of the Catalan Athletics Federation and vice-president of the Spanish Athletics Federation, as well as various representatives from the sports world and from the organizations connected to the race.
David Escudé has noted that “this Sunday 16,000 people will participate in the Vueling Cursa Bombers Barcelona, and there are two figures I would like to highlight: 91% of the registered participants come from the Province of Barcelona and 40% will be women, a female participation that is solidifying in this event. These two figures speak, on the one hand, to the race’s rooting and the good reception it has in our city and, on the other, to the growing involvement of women in running, which is so evident in Barcelona.”
For his part, Sebastià Massagué emphasized that “for us the Cursa is identified with the values of the Fire Department and we will count on 500 equipped firefighters. The Cursa brings us closer to the citizens; we receive the warmth of the people. Another element that is part of our values are the 14 solidarity projects, which I want to highlight.”
In this regard, he recalled that “our brand is to serve the citizen, to accompany runners so that year after year it remains one of Barcelona’s most meaningful events. It is a race very well established in the city, with its 27 editions,” he concluded.
From the race management, Mauro Llorens has stressed that “this race belongs to the people of Barcelona. They feel it as their own. We have sold out with 16,000 runners, but we want to grow in quality rather than quantity. We have a 60% men and 40% women split. This percentage is rising, and we are proud that more and more women want to run through the streets of Barcelona.”
Llorens also emphasized the changes introduced in the Cursa Bombers, noting that “for us the runner is the center of everything, and we’ve added many novelties, such as 11 start waves that participants will find at the start to have a smoother beginning. Additionally, this year, as a major novelty, all finishers will receive a finisher medal, something that did not happen in previous years.”
During the press conference, Anna Viladot, Vueling’s director of communications, highlighted that “we are very happy to renew our commitment to the race for three more years and to keep giving name to this emblematic event. We have been the main sponsors since 2021, and it is a pride to be part of one of Barcelona’s major sporting events, the city where Vueling was born more than 20 years ago and with which we share a very special bond.” “We want this bond to be experienced also from inside the company: in this edition, more than 200 Vueling employees will participate in the race, a demonstration of our team’s involvement and enthusiasm,” Viladot added.
Clara Las Heras and Bakr El Asri Mohsine, protagonists of the presentation
The presentation also featured a space reserved for athletic stars. Clara Las Heras and Bakr El Asri Mohsine, two prominent names in athletics, attended an event that once again highlighted the competitive level of the Cursa Bombers and its appeal to elite runners.
Clara Las Heras, a young Catalan athletics promise who already holds a personal best in the 10K of 32:34, while the young Gerundense Bakr El Asri Mohsine, at only 19 years old, is shaping up as one of the country’s great promises in athletics.
The participation of these two athletes served to underscore the race’s competitive facet, which at the same time preserves its popular essence and offers runners of all levels the chance to share the course with some of the distance’s best specialists.
The Barcelonese runner Clara Las Heras stated that “it would be too ambitious to try my personal best here; my goal is to get as close as possible, but I’ll give it a try.” Regarding her race strategy, she emphasized that “it’s important to maintain a steady pace and stay controlled; the first kilometers involve more climbing, I’ll take advantage of the final downhill and also the Gran Via stretch.”
Bakr El Asri Mohsine explained that “I’m trying to organize the season by accumulating more volume at the start, and a 10-kilometer race like the Cursa Bombers fits very well into my plan,” and he noted that “I’ve never run a 10-kilometer road race before.”
A race closely linked to Barcelona and its firefighters
Beyond the sporting aspect, the connection with the city and the firefighter community again took a prominent place during the presentation. The participation of Gerard Pradas, head of the Barcelona Firefighters unit, allowed highlighting a relationship that has been part of the race’s identity since its inception.
The involvement of the firefighters is one of the event’s distinctive elements, which has grown over the years without losing its popular character or the values that have accompanied it since the first edition. An event that goes beyond sport and that has turned Barcelona’s streets into a meeting point for thousands of people.
The day also showcased the involvement of the various entities and institutions that make the event possible, as well as Vueling’s commitment as the main sponsor. Anna Viladot’s participation, representing the airline, reinforced the brand’s presence in an event that blends sport, the city, and popular participation.
The presentation thus served to kick off the institutional launch of a new edition of the Vueling Cursa Bombers Barcelona, which is preparing to once again bring together thousands of runners for one of the city’s major days of popular athletics.
