The race will take place on May 24th with the following categories: ‘Open’, ‘Bombers’, ‘Inclusive’, ‘We Are a Team’, ‘Children’s’ and, as a novelty, an exclusive category for ‘Millennium’
Registrations open on Thursday, February 20th, at 11:00 am
The proceeds will finance research projects into childhood diseases and social care for vulnerable children treated at Sant Joan de Déu centers
Journalist Xavier Grasset will be the race ambassador
The Fire Brigade of the Generalitat, together with the Obra Social de Sant Joan de Déu and the support of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, the Abbey of Montserrat and the Patronat de la Muntanya de Montserrat, have presented, February 19, the 7th edition of the Vertical Montserrat. The event, which took place in the Sala del Venerable of the Monastery of Montserrat, was chaired by the general director of Prevention, Extinction of Fires and Rescue, Tamara Garcia de la Calle, accompanied by the butler of the Abbey of Montserrat and commissioner of the Millenary, Father Bernat Juliol, the president of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Carles Ruiz, the manager of the Patronat de la Muntanya de Montserrat, Xavier Aparicio, and the director of the Obra Social de Sant Joan de Déu, Juanjo Ortega.
The race, created in 2017 by the Firefighters of the Generalitat and organized jointly with the Obra Social de Sant Joan de Déu, is part of the solidarity project Bombers amb Causa (Firefighters with a Cause). It is one of the most demanding competitions in Spain and is included in the Circuito Nacional de Carreras Verticales (CCV). In this 2025 edition, it presents an additional route coinciding with the celebration of the Millenary of Montserrat.
Image race 2024
Participants in the Vertical Montserrat, which will be held on May 24, 2025, will have to climb the 2,180 steps that separate the lower station of the Santa Cova de Montserrat Funicular from the upper station of the Sant Joan Funicular of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) and overcome the 388 meters of difference in altitude.
This year the race incorporates an important novelty, the Millenary category. It is an exclusive route with a positive difference in altitude of 1,000 meters, nodding to the commemoration of the founding of the Montserrat monastery. Federated or amateur athletes, over 16 years old, accustomed to doing extreme routes, can register. With a route of 4.5 km and 3,000 steps in total, it starts at the Pont de l’Aeri de Montserrat and ends at the Ermita de Santa Magdalena. Includes the section of the Vertical Montserrat OPEN.
The objectives of the race, which is entirely charitable, are to raise funds to finance research projects into childhood diseases and social programs to care for children at risk of exclusion, which are attended to in the various centers of Sant Joan de Déu, in addition to promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities through sport.
Tamara Garcia de la Calle, who announced that she will collaborate with the race with a zero bib, thanked “enormously” the involvement of all the organizations involved in the race, especially the firefighters who took the initiative to create the Firefighters with a Cause project, “because they always think about how to help people.”
The Vertical has the support of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, the Abbey of Montserrat and the Patronat de la Muntanya de Montserrat, as well as the collaboration, among others, of the Creu Roja de Catalunya, Bombers de Barcelona, Montserrat Air and the Federació d’Entitats Excursionistes de Catalunya and the sponsorship of Inacces i Airbox.
This support was discussed by Carles Ruiz, president of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, who highlighted “the importance of joint collaboration so that projects like these are possible“. For Ruiz, Ferrocarrils has been present since the first edition of the Vertical “because this initiative connects with the values that we have as a company. Apart from moving people, both in the cities and in the mountains, we have a very clear alliance with the territory and its people and all those initiatives that help people“.
Father Bernat also highlighted that, of all the activities that take place throughout the year in Montserrat, “this is the one that excites us the most. It’s not just about climbing stairs for exercise, but about defending values and helping people who need it most”.
The 2024 Montserrat Vertical was attended by 250 participants. 71 firefighters ran it, of which 37 (35 firefighters and 2 firefighters) were from the Generalitat Fire Department. The rest of the firefighters came from different departments: Barcelona Fire Department, Airport Fire Department, Madrid City Council Fire Department, the Community of Madrid, the Zaragoza Provincial Council and the Toledo CPEIS. In the Bombers category, they climb 2,180 steps equipped with the intervention equipment, which weighs about 23 kg.
Promoting inclusion continues to be important for the race. Therefore, the Vertical Montserrat promotes the Inclusive category, aimed at people with physical, intellectual, auditory or visual disabilities. Likewise, it continues to bet on the Children’s category, in which boys and girls between 8 and 15 years old can participate accompanied by an adult athlete. This category covers the lower section of the route, the 711 steps of the Santa Cova funicular. In addition, this year it will incorporate 5 inclusive places for children with disabilities.
The most supportive category is the ‘Som Un Equip‘ category, aimed at people, companies, sports clubs and other organizations. It also arrives with novelty this 2025 since it will be possible to participate with up to four representatives after having achieved a solidarity challenge of €500. Last year, 22 teams participated and this year the challenge is to exceed that number and reach 30.
For Juanjo Ortega, director of the Obra Social de Sant Joan de Déu, this category helps to grow the solidarity dimension of the race thanks to the involvement of many actors who “create a bond beyond social responsibility by carrying out prior solidarity actions and mobilizing their environment.” He especially thanked the “solidarity with a childhood that is currently experiencing many vulnerabilities. From the child who is hospitalized to the one who suffers from a mental health disorder or lives in a situation of social exclusion due to a migration process or an unfavorable economic situation.”
The ambassador of the Vertical Montserrat 2025 is the Catalan journalist and co-director of the TV3 program ‘La Selva’, Xavier Grasset i Foraster. During the presentation, he confirmed his presence in the race on May 24.
For the fourth consecutive year, La Xarxa+ will broadcast the Vertical Montserrat live on local television stations throughout Catalonia, which can also be followed on a giant screen installed in Plaça del Monestir, where bibs are collected and the awards ceremony takes place.
For those who want to collaborate but cannot run the race, a ‘Zero Bib’ has been set up to help carry out Sant Joan de Déu’s projects with children at risk, which will be operational until the day after the race.
Since the creation of the charity project until last year, Bombers amb Causa has raised more than €915,000 and has funded scholarships for research and investigation into childhood diseases, and social projects related to childhood.
