The third annual Wings for Life World Run
Running isn’t a solitary sport anymore. Just one look at the Team Run challenge sign ups for the third annual Wings for Life World Run on May 8 proves it. The clear spike in the size of teams, worldwide, shows people love running together. Why? The reasons are as varied as the runners themselves, from school pride to hero worship, from fun with friends to the chance to appear in a feature film.
SALZBURG (Austria), Nearly 2,000 teams took part in the Team Run challenge at the Wings for Life World Run 2015, and 2016 registrations are pushing that number two months ahead of race day on May 8. But the surprise in 2016 is the size of the teams. They’re big. The group with the largest headcount so far is already 37 percent larger than the biggest race-day team in 2015. So what’s sparked the trend?
Maybe sheer competitiveness: The entry with the most members has the best odds of winning the Team Run challenge. Victory is based on the longest distance run collectively. In 2015 actor-director Matthias Schweighöfer’s team had a record 152 members who pounded out 3,229.88km together (an average of 21.25km each).
This year, another German entry in the Team Run, Run with the Flow, has taken the early lead, securing a whopping 240 members by mid-February. Teams in Asia are seeing big numbers, too, with 178 representing Team XOO Taiwan, while South America is hot on their heels with Brazil’s 120-strong Team Previ and weeks left to grow.
Choosing a team is personal. Because 100 percent of each entry fee goes to Wings for Life’s single mission of finding a cure for spinal cord injury, some teams are private, with family and friends running in honour of a loved one with spinal cord injury. Others are crews of university rivals – like the students from 31 schools in Turkey who battled it out last year and want a rematch in 2016. Australian firefighters and their supporters are running together Down Under, and businesses, gyms and all kinds of professional groups worldwide are stepping up in teams.
As ever, celebrity is one big draw. Matthias Schweighöfer’s team was so popular last year because the team captain is an immensely popular German movie star. (And it doesn’t hurt that he awards a film role to his strongest male and female Team Runners!)
Want to run with the two-time Wings for Life World Run Global Champion, Lemawork Ketema? Done! He will pace for his Team Runners in Austria, getting them to 20km before the Catcher Car, the moving finish line, ends their race. Meanwhile, record-setting German long-distance runner Florian Neuschwander heads up Team Run with the Flow, and former track standout José Regalo has a growing group preparing for the Team Run in Portugal.
But runners aren’t the only athletes driving teams. From snowboarders to footballers to basketball players, pro athletes all over the planet are inspiring their followers to get out and run. Together. Motorsport fans can join forces with Spanish motorcycle racers Marc Márquez and Dani Pedrosa, Japanese Red Bull Air Race pilot Yoshihide Muroya, or Aussie F1 star Daniel Ricciardo, who is back with more team spirit than ever after his team took second place in the 2015 Team Run challenge.
Not every hero leading a group in the Team Run is participating as a runner, either. Many are rollers – wheelchair participants who live with spinal cord injury. Among them are Belgium’s Marc Herremans, the first wheelchair athlete to finish the iconic Ironman in Hawaii; Dutch wheelchair-tennis legend Esther Vergeer; and American Cory Hahn, who broke his neck and sustained a spinal cord injury in a college baseball game. Daniel Boot of the Netherlands, inspiration for the very first Wings for Life World Run team back in 2014, is gunning for a 100-plus strong crew in the Team Run again this year.
“Ultimately, it’s all about team spirit and racing together and having fun. I think that’s what I like the most of the Wings for Life World Run”, says Boot.
The 2015 Wings for Life World Run saw 101,280 participants in 33 countries across 12 time zones raising 4.2 million euros for Wings for Life’s single goal. And this year, even those who can’t make it to an official location can compete individually or in the Team Run by creating a Selfie Run using the new Wings for Life World Run app.
To sign up for a team, and for all the latest, visit www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com, or to download editorial content, visit the Wings for Life World Run Newsroom.
About Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation
Worldwide, millions of people are dependent on a wheelchair after having sustained a spinal cord injury, most often as the result of a traffic accident or a fall. Wings for Life is a not-for-profit spinal cord research foundation with the single mission to find a cure for spinal cord injury. Since 2004, Wings for Life has funded life-changing research projects and clinical trials around the globe. While the cure is still to be found, steady progress has been made. One hundred percent of the Wings for Life World Run entry fees and fund raised through this global running event will help work towards Wings for Life’s ultimate goal. Every step taken at the Wings for Life World Run and in the Wings for Life World Run Selfie Run is a step in the right direction – www.wingsforlife.com
About the Wings for Life World Run
The Wings for Life World Run was launched in 2014 to benefit the not-for-profit Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation, which is dedicated to finding a cure for spinal cord injury. Presented with the support of main partners Garmin, Puma and BF Goodrich,the Wings for Life World Run has pioneered the concept of a synchronised race where participants of all levels, all across the globe, run simultaneously, no matter the hour or the weather in their location. The event has also introduced the Catcher Car format, in which the finish line – a celebrity-driven vehicle that gives the runners a head start – chases the field at a predetermined pace. Only at the point of being overtaken is a runner’s race over, and the individual man and woman last to be caught are declared Global Champions – http://www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com