The Firefighters Race, Lace Up Save Lives

The registration period has opened for the Cursa de Bombers, or the Firefighters Race, the big springtime’s athletics event, and it will close on 12 April or when the limit set at 18.000 runners has been reached.

The entry fee is 13 euros for those who already have their own yellow chip or 16 euros for those who don’t. For those registering on or after 15 March, it will cost 19 euros. Entries can be made online via the race website or in person at registration points.

This year the race will be collecting funds for the fight against AIDS in Africa, with all the profits from the sale of Nike (RED) trainer laces going wholly to the RED initiative, the foundation set up by U2’s Bono.

The run’s organisers are repeating the initiative of previous years, namely a pre-race training programme called the Lunaruns, night-time orienteering runs that will be held on 24 and 31 March, and 7 and 14 April.

Tour:
The Firefighters Race will set off from Avinguda del Marquès de l’Argentera, next to Ciutadella Park, on Sunday 18 April, and will cover 10 km through the city’s main streets. The terraces of the Hotel Barcelona Universal & Hotel Soho Barcelona will be perfect points for athletics fans to watch the race.

Barcelona Marató 2010

Over 10,000 runners will be rising to the challenge of completing the Barcelona Marathon, this coming March 07, 2010. This year will see the biggest ever number of runners in the race’s history and that in a year when athletics is the star attraction in Barcelona, with the city holding the 20th European Athletics Championships this summer.

The main new features of the Barcelona Marathon this year are focused on improving the event for aficionados and runners alike. In addition, the race is keeping overall to its basic route, despite a few changes, which means it will pass the city sights for tourists and keep to the athletics aim of a faster race, with fewer sharp turns or narrow avenues and fewer inclines.

Barcelona Marató Website  |  NN Hotels: www.nnhotels.com

Jean Bouin Race

The Jean Bouin Race was started in Barcelona in 1920 by a group of journalists and sports promoters who were athletics enthusiasts, namely Josep Anton Trabal, Lluís Meléndez and Rossend Calvet, who named the event after the legendary French athlete, Jean Bouin, who was the runner-up in the Stockholm Olympics of 1912, holder of various world records between 1911 and 1913 and killed in action during the First World War.

Since then, this classic Catalan and Spanish athletics event, has never stopped inspiring local athletes as well as runners from around the world. The only time it was not held was during the Spanish Civil War, between 1937 and 1939, and, owing to specific problems at the time, between 1955 and 1967.

The event is unique in what it offers, as it is the only one to include a great variety of races and which has been adopting further categories year after year

In all, the Jean Bouin is made up of 13 races of various categories and distances - including one for people with disabilities in wheelchairs and another for people who have had organ transplants. The best known is the Open Race, open to anyone, Federation runner or not.

It will be held on 29 November 2009. Online entries can be made until 12 midnight on 25 November, though the period could close before should the maximum number of 5,000 participants set by the organisers be reached.

The Open Race will go through Paral·lel avenue and Gran Via, making our Hotel Barcelona Universal, Hotel Granvia and Hotel Soho Barcelona balconies and windows the perfect places to see runners from.

More inf@: Jean Bouin Race ..::.. Jean Bouin in Wikipedia