The Korrika was started by the AEK organisation in 1980. At that time, the initiative was aiming to revive Euskara (Basque), and this aim remains valid today as it continues to pursue the normalisation and boosting of the Basque language. It is a kind of march that takes place every two years and is held all over the territory where Basque is spoken. The AEK has been in charge of organising the Korrika ever since the beginning. The first edition was held in 1980 and today it has become the biggest mass initiative in favour of the Basque language in Euskal Herria, the country of the Basque language. It consists of a huge relay race that takes ten days; it covers 2,500 km linking north and south and east and west, all day and all night, non-stop. It is an old formula that symbolises collaboration and team work. 
 
From the moment the Korrika starts and until it finishes, the baton is passed on from one runner to the next, from one hand to another, kilometre by kilometre; a message is carried inside the baton to be read out by a well-known Basque speaker when the Korrika reaches the finishing post; until that moment the message remains a secret.
 
Hundreds of thousands of people have participated in the previous editions of the Korrika. It has become an event that rocks the whole of the Basque Country’s society to the core. The number of participants who run in this race increases from one edition to the next. Thousands of people work to organise the Korrika in committees set up in each town and in each neighbourhood, and while the race is being run, hundreds of festivals and cultural events, etc. take place.