The global run event – the Wings for Life World Run – has revealed new locations for 2015 and opens for registration on 1 October 2014.
Silverstone, the home of British Motorsport, will once again host the 2015 UK leg of the World Run. The 2015 race will also include five new tracks in Japan, Russia, Dubai, Denmark; and a second track in Germany. Brazil’s course will take up residence in Brasilia, France’s near Rouen, and Spain’s will leave Barcelona and run all the way to the charming town of Aranjuez near Madrid.
In 2014, a new race format was born. Runners of all abilities from 164 different nations ran at the very same time on six continents and in 34 locations before the very last runner, Lemawork Ketema (Ethiopia) was overtaken after 78K of racing by the ‘Catcher Car’.
The Wings for Life World Run will return on 3 May 2015, starting at 11:00 GMT, with new tracks, entirely new countries and the world famous Silverstone once again playing host to the UK leg of the race.
Racing against 40,000 participants at exactly the same time, worldwide, is one challenge, but the Wings for Life World Run goes one step further and changes the face of racing altogether: as 30 minutes after the runners start, the ‘Catcher Car’ will begin to follow them.
Driving slowly at first but increasing its speed at given periods in time, the Catcher Ca” is the moving finish line. Equipped with electronic sensors, the Catcher Car will pass the runners, registering their digital chips on its way to the leaders. The last runner to be caught worldwide is the global champion.
In this week’s ‘Champions Pick’, all of the 2014 national winners were asked to select their 2015 starting country. Lemawork Ketema (Ethiopia) and Remigio Quispe (Peru) who finished just 90 metres apart in the 2014 race will start alongside each other in Austria whilst British winner Paul Martelletti has chosen to run in Melbourne, Australia, where he will look to improve on his worldwide 5th place in 2014 and will run throughout the night.
The UK event will take place at Silverstone Circuit, one of the world’s most iconic motorsport venues and the home of British motorsport, with 100% of World Run proceeds going to the charity Wings For Life, which funds world-class research aimed at finding a cure for spinal cord injury.
Facts & Figures of the inaugural Wings for Life World Run 2014
- Men’s global winner: Lemawork Ketema (ETH, 78.58K)
- Men’s runner up: Remigio Quispe (PER, 78.59K)
- Women’s global winner: Elise Selvikvag Molvik (NOR, 54.78K)
- Money raised: €3 million
- Total kilometres: 530,928 – the equivalent of one runner taking more than 13 laps around the world
- Runners starting: 35,397
- Still running at 1 hour mark: 29,847
- Still running at 2 hour mark: 5,146
- Still running at 3 hour mark: 327
- Still running at 4 hour mark: 26
- Still running at 5 hour mark: 3
- Marathon distance achieved: 233
- Average distance: 14.99K
