The Mercè race of the records

BarcelonaThis year's Mercè race, held this Sunday through the center of Barcelona, has shattered several records. The first, regarding attendance: there has been unprecedented participation, with 17,200 registered, above the 17,000 in 2013, which until today was the highest figure in its history. The second record was in time: the Moroccan athlete Douae Ouboukir has set a new women's record for the Mercè Bimbo Global Race by winning with authority in a time of 32 minutes and 52 seconds, improving the mark she herself had set in the last edition.

From the very first meters, the Moroccan runner made it clear that she did not want to speculate and positioned herself at the front of the race, taking advantage of the more open, central, and circular route inaugurated last year after more than two decades with the same layout. The ten-kilometer race started on Pau Claris street and covered a good part of Barcelona's Eixample, then followed the Passeig de Sant Joan, the seafront, the Avinguda Paral·lel, and arrived at the Plaça de Catalunya. The Moroccan runner knew how to manage her lead and faced the finishing straight alone, crossing the line with more than a minute's margin over her pursuers.

In the men's category, on the other hand, the record was never in danger. After the exhibition by Australian James Whelan in 2025, when he shattered the race record and set it at 29 minutes and 4 seconds, the bar was set especially high. This year, the runner from Igualada, Roger Súria, won with a time of 29 minutes and 59 seconds.

The event finally featured the notable absence of elite ex-athlete Reyes Estévez, a middle-distance specialist and chosen best Spanish athlete of the year in 1998, who at 50 years old planned to return to competition after his debut last year, but ultimately did not participate.