Another record–breaking year is expected for the Wings for Life World Run, as the number of app run events for the 13th edition on May 10, 2026, has already passed last year’s benchmark. To date, 505 events have been confirmed across 67 countries, exceeding the 452 events held in 2025.
Registration for 2026 is currently pacing at twice the rate of the same period last year. While several locations have already sold out, registration remains open for hundreds of other events.
Wings for Life is a non-profit spinal cord research foundation dedicated to finding a cure for spinal cord injury. The Wings for Life World Run is its primary fundraising event, notable for its unique format where 100% of entry fees and donations go directly to research.
The race features a simultaneous global start at 11:00 UTC, meaning participants start at the same moment regardless of their local time zone. Instead of a traditional finish line, a real or virtual ‘Catcher Car’ begins a pursuit 30 minutes after the start, with the race ending for each runner once they are overtaken.
Demand for app run events is high at several major destinations. Places in Warsaw are at 80% capacity, with Tokyo at 79%, and both São Paulo and Taipei at 76%. The top five countries currently hosting app run events are Austria (151), Germany (69), Poland (36), the United States (28), and India (21).
Colin Jackson, International Sports Director at Wings for Life, said “We’ve been blown away by the excitement building around this year’s Wings for Life World Run. Every year our global community grows, and I’m so proud to see so many people stepping up to organise their own App Run Events. It doesn’t matter how far or fast you go on the day – the heart of this event is that hundreds of thousands of people show up with the same goal: to find a cure for spinal cord injury.”
The 2026 events include a wide variety of settings, such as the Dolomites in Welsberg–Monguelfo, Italy, and a course along the Rhine Falls in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. In Sydney, runners will circle the Royal Randwick Racecourse, while Cape Town will host a beach run along the Atlantic seafront.
The momentum follows a record–breaking 2025 edition, which saw 310,719 participants from 191 nationalities take part. That year, more than one in three participants chose to run at an organised community event.
The 2025 event also saw Jo Fukuda set a new record of 71.67km at an app run event in Fukuoka, Japan. Due to his distance and the local start time, the virtual Catcher Car did not reach him until the following day. In the women’s category, Esther Pfeiffer became Germany’s first international winner, reaching 59.03km in Munich.
To date, a total of 1,870,253 participants have taken part in the Wings for Life World Run, raising a total of €60.53 million for spinal cord research.
www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com
www.wingsforlife.com
