Women’s Race 2024: dates, cities, and key details of the circuit

The Central Lechera Asturiana Women’s Race closed 2024 with figures that are already part of its own history: more than 100,000 participants, nine cities turned pink, and an accumulated fundraising total of around 2 million euros since its inception. The circuit once again confirmed that it is not just a series of popular races, but a sporting and social phenomenon with a unique place on the Spanish running calendar.

In its twentieth edition, the event reinforced an idea that has been growing over the past two decades: running can also be a collective act of visibility, solidarity, and belonging. Gran Canaria opened the calendar on March 10 and Barcelona closed it on November 17, in a sequence that ran through spring, summer, and autumn with a mix of accessible competition, walking events, and parallel activities that are already part of the event’s identity.

A circuit that turned pink into a recognizable image

The Women’s Race is understood not only by its bib numbers or its distance, which usually ranges around 5 or 7 kilometers depending on the host city. Its strength lies in the scene: avenues filled with thousands of female runners, pink shirts moving like a compact tide, and an atmosphere of a major day that feels more like an urban celebration than an elite competition. That formula, repeated and refined over the years, has allowed the event to grow without losing its popular character.

The 2024 edition also confirmed a clear trend: women’s participation in running is no longer a marginal statistic. The Women’s Race was created in 2004 to encourage sports practice among women, assert their presence in public spaces, and raise funds for research and awareness around breast cancer. Twenty years later, the circuit still fulfills that role with a massive audience and a media presence that makes it a benchmark inside and outside Spain.

That growth has not been linear or merely cosmetic. It has gone hand in hand with a broader cultural shift, in which running ceased to be an image associated almost exclusively with club runners and opened up to very different profiles. In the Women’s Race, first-timers, regular runners, participants who walk the course, and women who make the event an annual tradition all coexist. The diversity of the field is one of its defining features.

The cities, the dates, and the rhythm of a long season

The 2024 circuit kicked off in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on March 10 and continued in Valencia on April 14, Madrid on May 12, Vitoria-Gasteiz on June 2, Gijón on June 16, A Coruña on September 22, Zaragoza on October 20, Seville on October 27, and Barcelona on November 17. Nine venues, nine urban accents, and one common thread: the visibility of women in popular sport.

Madrid once again provided one of the circuit’s most iconic images, with 35,000 participants in a 7-kilometer race that started on Paseo de la Castellana, in the Nuevos Ministerios area, and finished on Paseo de Camoens. The capital brought the media strength of a major city and, at the same time, the emotional tone of a celebration that blends sport, tribute, and social cause. That balance explains much of the format’s success.

Vitoria, for its part, brought together more than 3,000 women in an edition of just over 5 kilometers with start and finish at Mendizabala, while other venues opted for similar routes and complementary activities such as runner expos, fitness sessions, and awareness campaigns. The race works as both an event and a ritual, and that dual nature sustains its longevity.

The solidarity dimension remains the heart of the project

The image of the pink bib would be incomplete without the solidarity background that has accompanied the race since its origin. The organization keeps its focus on the fight against breast cancer, prevention, research, and raising awareness of other forms of inequality affecting women. In 2024, the race’s overall fundraising over its 20-year history stood at around 2 million euros, with a historic total that reflects the continuity of that commitment.

The Spanish Association Against Cancer is among the main recipients of the contributions, along with other organizations and projects that vary depending on the edition and the city. The 2024 circuit also featured organizations such as Fundación GEICAM, Wanawake Mujer, Asociación Clara Campoamor, Intravenus, and different local associations linked to breast cancer or the defense of women’s rights. That support network broadens the event’s reach and makes it more than just a mass race.

One figure helps explain its scale: since 2004, more than 1.5 million women have taken part in the different races of the circuit. The number speaks not only of continuity; it speaks of its ability to attract crowds, of voluntary repeat participation, and of loyalty built on shared causes. In an overcrowded sports calendar, that combination is uncommon and explains why the Women’s Race retains such a recognizable identity.

Madrid, Valencia, and the venues that set the pace of the year

The 2024 Madrid edition produced some of the circuit’s most powerful images. Before the start, tribute was paid to Yolanda Vázquez-Mazariego, founder of the race, and to Olympic athlete Lydia Valentín. Institutional representatives also took part, along with a group of refugee women accompanied by UNHCR and the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. The race thus became a public scene of sport and recognition, beyond the stopwatch.

Valencia, which had been the second stop on the calendar, contributed another essential feature of the event: its ability to take over the city without disrupting it. The pink tide advanced along an urban course designed to combine participation and accessibility, with the festive element that usually appears at the end of the race. In many cities, the finish line does not close the event; it opens it in another way, with collective activities that extend the atmosphere for hours.

Vitoria introduced innovations such as the Sport Woman fair, bib pickup at the civic center, and pre-race activities aimed at all audiences. In that venue, the organization also launched the #laMquefalta movement to raise awareness of metastatic breast cancer and offered charity bibs benefiting ASAMMA. The circuit is not limited to running: it brings together messages, public presence, and small acts of community.

A race designed to run, walk, and stay in the street

One of the reasons the Women’s Race remains so strong is its accessibility. The course usually welcomes both runners and participants who prefer to walk, a decision that broadens the race’s social base and lowers the entry barrier. That openness has been key to bringing in women who would never have felt addressed by a conventional race.

The distance also matters. The courses, at around 5 to 7 kilometers, are manageable for a very broad audience without giving up a complete sports-event experience. In terms of promoting running, the race has served as a gateway to regular physical activity, with a friendly aesthetic and logistics designed so that a first experience is not intimidating.

The post-race festival, warm-up activities, and pre-event expo reinforce that logic. The race is experienced as a large neighborhood gathering, an open city, and shared sport. There is no gap between competition and celebration; everything happens within the same choreography, from the start on major urban arteries to the music and exercises at the end of the course.

The social impact left by the 20th anniversary

The 2024 balance sheet left more than participation data. It consolidated the Women’s Race’s role as a barometer of a broader transformation in women’s sport. The presence of athletes, institutions, health associations, social groups, and sponsors helps explain why the event has crossed the line from being merely a popular race to becoming a recognizable symbol of Spain’s sports and social agenda.

In that context, the 20th-anniversary celebration was not a nostalgic gesture, but a way of emphasizing continuity. Twenty years later, the race remains contemporary: it adapts to new sensitivities, incorporates visible causes such as metastasis or gender-based violence, and keeps its focus on promoting exercise among women of very different ages and profiles.

The participation of more than 100,000 women across the nine 2024 venues also conveys an important idea for readers who follow running today: major popular races are not only a sporting phenomenon, but a social infrastructure. They organize the city for a few hours, activate volunteer networks, mobilize the media, and bring thousands of people together in a shared experience. That cumulative effect is part of their value.

What the Women’s Race leaves behind for the running calendar

The 2024 season confirms that the Women’s Race continues to occupy its own place on the Spanish running map. It does not compete with major marathons in toughness or with 10Ks in speed; it plays in a different league, broader and more transversal. Its success lies in having turned an accessible distance into a large-scale event and in sustaining it for two decades without losing meaning.

From a journalistic and sporting perspective, the most relevant figure may not be the number of participants on a given Sunday, but the overall picture: 1.5 million women involved since 2004, nine venues in 2024, more than 100,000 participants on the circuit, and a historic fundraising total close to 2 million euros. These are figures that explain on their own why this event is already part of the landscape of popular sport in Spain.

The 2024 Women’s Race left, in short, a clear image: streets filled with runners and walkers, a cause with real weight, a network of committed cities, and a celebration that has learned how to grow without diluting its identity. In a calendar full of races, few manage to make color, cause, and participation speak at the same time with such clarity.