They endorse the race
Each edition, the Vertical Montserrat has had the support of athletes or people related to the world of sports and inclusion.
BOJAN KRKIĆ PÉREZ
Former player and current coordinator of the football area at FC Barcelona. At the age of 9, he joined La Masia, where he became one of the top scorers in Barça’s youth system. In 2007, at just 17 years old, he made his debut with the first team and became one of the youngest players ever to score for Barça. Those early years led him to be part of one of the most brilliant eras in the club’s history. In the 2008–2009 season, he was part of the team that achieved the first treble — La Liga, Copa del Rey, and UEFA Champions League — a milestone that would define an entire era.
In his 16-year professional career, Bojan collected more than ten titles, including three La Liga titles, two UEFA Champions Leagues, one Copa del Rey, and one FIFA Club World Cup. His career also had an important international dimension. He wore the shirts of major European and global clubs such as AS Roma, AC Milan, AFC Ajax, Stoke City, FSV Mainz 05, Deportivo Alavés, CF Montréal, and Vissel Kobe. This experience made him the first Spanish player to score in LaLiga, Serie A, the Premier League, and the Bundesliga, demonstrating his adaptability and competitiveness in different football environments.
XAVIER GRASSET FORASTER
Journalist, Licensed in CCI by the UAB. He currently presents and co-directs the TV3 afternoon magazine ‘La Selva’. For 9 years he directed ‘Més324’ TV program, and for Catalunya Ràdio, he has been a delegate journalist in Madrid, and has made several programs such as ‘El món s’acaba’, or ‘L’oracle’. He consider himself as a son of the regional press, for the projects in which he has been involved, and has also promoted Canal Reus TV.
National Communication 2015 Award. His work as the chief of the 3Cat program, ‘Més324’ has earned several recognitions of the publishing sector as well, such as Divulgació de la Setmana del Llibre en Català Award (2021) or the Ars Magna Award granted by the Institució Francesc de Borja Moll (2024).
His last book is ‘La pausa dels dies, dietari de vivències plaents’ (La Campana 2023)
ORIOL CARDONA
Oriol Cardona Coll is a professional mountain runner (trail/skyrunning) and ski athlete. He is the skimo world champion in the sprint category in 2023 and the European sprint champion in 2022.
He participated in the Milano–Cortina d’Ampezzo 2026 Olympic Games, winning two medals: gold in the speed event and bronze in the mixed team event (together with Ana Alonso Rodríguez). In doing so, he achieved the second gold medal in the Olympic history of Spanish winter sports.
He skis in winter and when there is no snow, he puts on his shoes and participates in ultra trail races. He is also passionate about cycling. His love for the peaks comes from when he went on family outings to the Girona Pyrenees since in his hometown, Banyoles, there are no mountains. Graduate in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences, he has a master’s degree in altitude training. Currently, in addition to being an athlete, he is a technical coach and does not rule out, in the future, taking the exam to be a firefighter.
CRISTINA RIBA
Cristina Riba Roig is a journalist. She has spent a large part of her professional career at Televisió de Catalunya, where since 2017 she has presented the Telenotícies Cap de Setmana. Previously, she had also presented Telenotícies Migdia, Telenotícies Comarques, and Canal 3/24, in addition to various special programs. In her beginnings at TV3 News Services, she was an editor for the International section. She has worked in New York, on the North American television network NY1 News. In the United States, she was also a reporter for La Sexta, a correspondent for RAC1, and an editor at El Diario NY. During her time as a scriptwriter and producer of programs at RAC1, she was part of the Problemes Domèstics team that won the Ondas Award in 2001.
On a personal level, she is a mother of two children and is passionate about basketball. She played for Barcelona B.C. Universitari and was part of the Catalan team.
NÚRIA PICAS
Núria Picas is a professional long-distance running athlete, with a sporting career full of successes and victories in iconic events around the world. In 2011, she participated for the first time in an ultra trail, the Cavalls del Vent, which she would end up winning. A double champion of the Ultra Trail World Tour, Núria has podiums in the Transgrancanaria, the Ultra Trail of Mount Fuji, the Buff Epic Trail, Australia 100K, and the Ultra Pirineus, and she has a victory in the Ultra Trail of Montblanc, the dream of any ultratrail runner. She is the mother of two children, a professional firefighter of the Generalitat, a Creu de Sant Jordi recipient, and a former Deputy in the Parliament of Catalonia. Núria has published two books: Running to Be Free (Columna, 2015) and Now or Never (Columna, 2017). She is currently studying Middle High Mountain Technician studies to become a professional guide and devotes her free time to climbing and mountaineering, her other great passion.
SERGI MINGOTE
Sergi Mingote was an elite mountaineer and ultra-endurance athlete from Parets del Vallès who, in 2019, completed the ascent of six 8,000-meter mountains in 367 days without the use of bottled oxygen. By doing so, he set a new world record and entered the Guinness Book of Records. He then embarked on the most important sporting challenge of his life, the 14×1000 Catalonia Project – Pyrenees Barcelona 2030, aiming to ascend all 14 eight-thousanders on the planet without using bottled oxygen in just 1,000 days, with the goal of breaking the world record set by Korean climber Kim Chang-ho. Unfortunately, he lost his life on January 16, 2021, during an expedition to K2. In addition to being a lecturer and coach, he was the president of the ONAT Foundation, an organization dedicated to social inclusion through sport.
EMMA ROCA
Emma Roca held a degree in biochemistry from the UAB and a doctorate in biomedical engineering from the UPC. She was a professional firefighter for the Generalitat, an entrepreneur, a mother of three children, and an elite ultra-distance runner. With seven years in the GRAE rescue group, she founded three companies and competed in triathlons, duathlons, mountain marathons and ultramarathons, mountain skiing, and adventure raids for over 20 years, becoming world champion in 2010. Roca also excelled in mountain biking, winning the Catalan championship in the ultramarathon category in 2014. Her impact extended beyond sports, and among her most notable projects was the Summit Project (Health in UltraMarathons and Their Limits), which led to her doctorate. She published two books about her daily life, health, and sports. She also left behind a company dedicated to collecting and producing products derived from wild rose bushes.
ARCADI ALIBÉS
Arcadi Alibés is a Catalan journalist who has worked at Televisió de Catalunya (TV3) since 1984, where he serves as a sports reporter. Beyond his professional career, Alibés is an experienced long-distance runner and has completed 148 marathons, his great passion. He ran his first marathon in 1983 in New York and reached his 100th marathon in 2010 in Barcelona. He has published four books: Córrer per ser feliç (Ara Llibres, 2010), Les Petjades dels Herois (Ara Llibres, 2012), translated into English as The Footprint of the Heroes (Córner, 2012), 100 motius per córrer (Cossetània, 2014), and La volta al món en 80 maratons (Cossetània, 2017).