The controversial T-shirts (in Spanish) of the Women's Race

BarcelonaLinguistic uproar erupts over the Women's Race t-shirt. Barcelona City Council presented the race this week—with a record 36,000 female participants—who will run through Barcelona wearing fuchsia pink t-shirts that read: "Women's Race." In previous editions, the t-shirt has been labeled in Spanish, with slogans like "Your bib number counts." This year, Junts councilor Jordi Martí alerted the public via X about this situation, which he considers "going backwards like crabs" because the City Council has joined the National Pact for the Catalan Language and has a commissioner for that area. ERC has joined the criticism of the t-shirt being in Spanish and not Catalan. The City Council has asked the organizers that "for future editions held in Barcelona, ​​the naming "The shirt will be adapted to Catalan, in accordance with this government's desire to use the Catalan language," according to the Department of Sports.

The Department of Sports has stated that "Carrera de la Mujer" (Women's Race) is the unified name used by the organization for the entire national circuit, and the t-shirts are produced uniformly for all nine cities where the race is held: "It does not reflect any specific decision by the Barcelona City Council," they explained. The race began in 2004, and the City Council only provides logistical support due to the impact of 36,000 people closing 8 kilometers of public roads in the city center. It is a private race, organized by Sport Life Ibérica and sponsored by brands such as Central Lechera Asturiana, Oysho, and Banco Santander. The City Council emphasizes that "the presentation was in Catalan, and the event is always promoted as Carrera de las Mujeres, both in institutional communications and in graphic design and official channels." However, most of the materials on the website www.carreradelamujer.com are not translated into Catalan either. "From Barcelona City Council, we are working to apply a language perspective in all areas to avoid future inconsistencies with our firm commitment to the use of Catalan," Marta Salicrú, Barcelona's Language Commissioner, told ARA. The race has volunteers in its organization and aims to raise awareness about the need for health, fight breast cancer, and combat gender violence and the social and educational inequalities faced by women. The entry fee is €14, and the City Council is subsidizing 415 entries for schools. Among other charitable initiatives, €90,000 will be donated to the Spanish Association Against Cancer.