On 16 May, the seventh edition of Unirun, the Catalan university race, took place. The competition, which brings together participants from all 12 Catalan universities every year, also became the testing ground this year for the 5k Catalan University Championships (CCU21).

With the start and finish line at the Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, 100 UIC Barcelona students, with university logos on their race bibs, completed the 5 kilometre race organised by ECU (Catalan University Sports).

Out of the hundred or so UIC Barcelona participants, the fastest, earning gold and silver medals at CCU21 and third and fourth place at Unirun, respectively, were 2nd year Physiotherapy students Ewen Toulgoat (with a time of 15 minutes and 28 seconds), and David Sancho (with a time of 15 minutes and 36 seconds). In the female category, the fastest student was Inés Alonso, a third year Bachelor’s degree in Medicine student from UIC Barcelona, who managed to finish the race in a time of 21 minutes and 20 seconds.

Given the current situation generated by the pandemic, the race complied with all the anti-Covid 19 safety measures: temperature controls, hand gel, social distancing and mandatory use of masks before and after the race. In addition, the runners started out in groups of 4, exiting the race up to 750 times to avoid crowding.

A total of 3.000 runners from different universities ran down the coast of the Sant Martí and Sant Adrià de Besòs neighbourhoods, 51.91% of whom were men and 48.08% women. The first students to cross the finish line at Unirun 2021, both from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, were Carles Castillejo (15:17) in the male category and Marta Castroviejo (17:53) in the female category.