Last night at 11pm hundreds of Kiwis gathered at Westhaven Marina in Auckland to join the biggest world run and run for those who can’t where hundreds of thousands of runners ran at the exact same time, in support of one goal – to find a cure for spinal cord injuries.
On Sunday, 7 May at 11pm NZT the biggest world run took place where hundreds of thousands around the globe laced up their running shoes at the exact same time and ran for those who can’t to raise vital funds for spinal cord injury research.
Running for those who can’t. For the 10th time, this motto united the world when professional athletes, fun runners and total beginners all around the globe participated in the Wings for Life World Run.
At 11pm NZT, a record-breaking 206,728 participants with 192 nationalities in 158 countries set off together running, walking or rolling, to keep ahead of the Catcher Car – the moving finish line, which started 30 minutes after the runners.
Auckland’s respective winners included Charlotte Van Der Lee (26.87 kilometres, App Run in Auckland) and William Leong (42.6 kilometres, App Run in Auckland) who stood strong against the global winners: Katarzyna Szkoda (55 kilometres, Flagship Run in Poznań) and Jo Fukuda (69 kilometres, App Run in Japan).
In this year’s anniversary edition of the biggest running event in the world, the runners and wheelchair users covered an average of 11.59 kilometres by the time the Catcher Car finished the race for them. But time or distance didn’t matter – it was about the fun and the spirit of everybody coming together for a good cause, with 100% of all entry fees and donations going directly to spinal cord research.
The 10th Wings for Life World Run marks a milestone: Through entry fees and donations, 5,802,595 euros ($6,219,482 NZD) have been collected for spinal cord research this year alone.
“Now I’m totally overwhelmed, I am happy beyond words and I am so proud of everyone who helped us to make this happen. Today, 206,728 world runners walked, ran and rolled and raced the amount of 5.8 million euros.
And having felt the World Run vibes I know for sure that we will have the power to find a cure for spinal cord injury. If so many people join forces we will make that happen. So a heartfelt thank you to each and every one who was part of this race today.
Thank you so much. And next year, May 5th, it would be great to see all of you at the start line again,” said Anita Gerhardter, CEO of Wings for Life.
Worldwide, participants ran individually with the Wings for Life World Run App or they came together at the 239 App Run Events, which were held at stunning locations like Auckland’s waterfront Westhaven Marina, the Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City (Mexico), in the port of Barcelona (Spain), in Karura Forest in Nairobi (Kenya) and in Sydney (Australia).
Two of the biggest pop stars of the 1990s were motivating app runners in the UK and the United States, Geri Horner, formerly known as “Ginger Spice” Geri Halliwell, and Lance Bass, actor and singer in legendary boyband NSYNC.
Their voices could be heard within the unique Audio Experience of the Wings for Life World Run App.
New Zealand Olympic medallist Hayden Wilde joined the Auckland run alongside Red Bull athletes downhill mountain biker Brook Macdonald and drifting sensation Mad Mike (Mike Whiddett) and local Wings for Life World Run ambassadors Brad Smeele, Bailley Unahi and Gareth Lynch.
At the Wings for Life World Run, everyone starts at the same time, worldwide – at 1pm in Central Europe, 11pm in New Zealand or 4am. in Vancouver, Canada. But not only the starting time varied from location to location, conditions for participants did as well.
Raising a total of 43.83 million euros, 1,293,716 people have run a total of 11,839,989 kilometres since the first event in 2014. 100% of all entry fees and donations go directly to spinal cord research and help to find a cure for spinal cord injury.
A total of 276 different projects have been provided with funding so far. Dr Verena May, Scientific Coordinator for Wings for Life, explains: "We are currently funding 74 research projects around the world. These focus mainly on regeneration, reconstruction and secondary damage.”
Anita Gerhardter: “The Wings for Life World Run acts like a turbo for spinal cord research. With the money raised, we have already been able to help several projects make the leap into the clinics to be tested with patients who have sustained spinal cord injuries. This in itself is a great success and we’ll see even greater progress in the future.”
Dr Jan Schwab, Scientific Director for Wings for Life, participated in this year’s Wings for Life World Run: “I like running. And this run is of particular concern to me. It creates awareness for people who have to live with a spinal cord injury.”
Research is expensive, Dr Schwab explains. The millions raised by the Wings for Life World Run every year is “important money and enables Wings for Life not only to fund a larger number of projects but also to conduct clinical studies that are more expensive. The run is good news for research.”
The 11th edition of the Wings for Life World Run will take place on 5 May 2024. Registration opens later this year. Participants can set a notification at www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com
Full results list, news and reactions are available at www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com
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