There are women who, although they do not usually run, do not miss the Women’s Race. And many do so trusting that this event, besides helping to promote women’s sports, donates part of the profits to breast cancer research. The motivation for some to complete those six kilometers is that they themselves have suffered a tumor, or their mothers, sisters, or friends have. Their expressions are transformed into a video recorded on Instagram by the Teta y Teta Association, widely shared on social media, during last week’s race in Madrid, when they are told that it was calculated that the donated percentage is only 1% of what the organizing company, Sport Life Ibérica, earns in a year. The clip captures the runners’ disappointment upon learning that the activity is for profit, when they believed everything was donated. “You participate in this precisely so that the money goes to these causes,” one of them complains.
The company that organizes the race explained to EL PAÍS that last year 110,000 women participated throughout the circuit and that the equivalent of 20% of their net income from registrations ―264,967 euros― was allocated to “solidarity actions.” That total amount is published in the “Transparency” section of their website, although it is not justified or explained: it is not accompanied by the percentage it represents of each registration, nor the number of runners in 2025.
The company detailed by email: “It is a women’s sporting event with a social commitment. It has never been presented as a charity race or as an NGO. Its main objective from the beginning has been to promote physical activity among women.” Furthermore, it explained that “income from registrations, merchandising or sponsorship, as well as organizational costs, are data that are part of the internal economic management of the circuit and, in some cases, commercial agreements with third parties.” That is why they do not publish the breakdown.
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In the viral clip, while jogging with their pink shirts soaked because it was a rainy day on May 10 in the capital, the runners say they would expect “100%” to be donated, “as much as possible,” “at least half” of their registration fee. The cheapest bib costs 13.95 euros. The races have been held for 22 years and take place in nine cities between March and September.
This is, in the words of the organization, “the largest women’s sporting event in Europe” and also “an international benchmark of solidarity support for all kinds of entities.” The company Sport Life Ibérica is also behind other activities, such as the Seville marathon and the Santa Claus Race in Madrid. Additionally, it offers marketing services and publishes about twenty publications on sports, cars, and motorcycles.
On the Women’s Race website, lists of organizations to which donations were made in 2025 and 2024 and the breakdown of amounts given to each are published. Last year, the 264,967 euros were distributed among at least 36. Of these, 23 received all or part of the aid in the form of “stand setup and installation” at the fair or the event’s finish area, that is, not in actual cash income. The biggest beneficiary according to the data was the Spanish Association Against Cancer, which received 96,197 euros and another 23,400 euros in stands for its local offices. Besides other NGOs focused on breast cancer, the list includes associations defending women’s rights, against gender violence, refugees and humanitarian aid, support for those affected by the Valencia flood, and sports promotion. Various entities on the list have confirmed to this newspaper that they received the published amount.
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Sport Life Ibérica earned only 3,045 euros in 2024, according to what they publish on their transparency website. They obtained 10,656,342 euros in income and spent 10,653,297 euros, but this figure corresponds to the total of the communication and events company, not just the Women’s Races section. Their latest public financial statement is from that year, as it is usually presented after summer. It is the one Teta y Teta used to calculate the donation percentage relative to their activity.
“The problem is that, as bad as it seems to us, it is legal,” claims Marina García Canedo, spokesperson for Teta y Teta, who interviewed the women while they ran in Madrid. “Neither in Spain nor in Europe is there a specific regulation on solidarity advertising or social marketing. This type of initiative is governed by the same rules as candy advertisements,” she explains. The activist movement Femen and breast cancer patients interrupted the race to protest what they consider pink washing: symbolic gestures without real substance that aim to win over the women’s community. They seek to mobilize participants to attend marches and donate directly to those affected by the disease.
“The idea that this is better than nothing deactivates social struggle,” laments García Canedo, an advertiser and specialist in political communication. “We have very little time to do anything other than work, we want to help, and the role of brands compensates for that difficulty. Since you have to buy a pack of pads, buy mine and at the same time help,” describes the spokesperson. However, García Canedo demands: “Who are we asking to take care of us? A brand of pads or the Ministry of Health? If there is a lack of money for research, it must be requested from the Government.”
Rubén Sánchez, spokesperson for the consumer association FACUA, explains that, in this case, “the trick” is that the organizing company does not advertise the activity as a charity or benefit race, and clarifies: “The brand is already strongly identified with the solidarity purpose, they don’t need to.” The unfair competition law that regulates misleading advertising applies not only to false information but also to that which “even if truthful, by its content or presentation may mislead recipients, being likely to alter their economic behavior.” For Sánchez, the promotion is legally correct, although ethically debatable: “The ethical thing would be to say, for example, that five euros from each participant, or 30%, goes to the Spanish Association Against Cancer.”