The 10th Wings for Life World Run, a global fundraising event, will take place on Sunday, May 7, with proceeds supporting spinal cord research. The event has raised €38.3M in donations to date, with €4.7M generated in 2022 alone, thanks to 161,892 participants from 192 countries.

This year’s event is expected to draw over 150,000 runners, including several celebrities. With sign-ups still possible until Sunday, May 7 at 11 AM, it’s not too late to join the global movement.

Here is all you need to know about this year’s innovative global event and how it has helped important medical progress:

The 10th Wings for Life World Run, a global fundraising event, will take place on Sunday, May 7, with proceeds supporting spinal cord research. The event has raised €38.3M in donations to date, with €4.7M generated in 2022 alone, thanks to 161,892 participants from 192 countries. This year’s event is expected to draw over 150,000 runners, including several celebrities. With sign-ups still possible until Sunday, May 7 at 11 AM, it’s not to late to join the global movement.

Here is all you need to know about this year’s innovative global event and how it has helped important medical progress:

– The first edition of the Wings for Life World Run was held in 2014. 1,086,988 people have participated in nine Wings for Life World Runs so far, making an impressive 119 billion steps worldwide, covering an astonishing 9,034,954 kilometres.

– The Wings for Life World Run has a unique format that sets it apart from other races. It is held simultaneously worldwide and features a unique mobile finish line called the Catcher Car.

– Thirty minutes after the start of the race, the Catcher Car moves towards the participants at a constant speed. As soon as the car reaches a participant’s position, their race ends. This means that regardless of their pace or ability, all participants have an equal opportunity to complete the race and cross the finish line. It is a race format where anyone can participate and everyone can finish.

– The Catcher Car is a real car – seen at the seven Flagship Runs – and a digital version for Wings for Life World Run App Runs. The mobile finish line is a key feature of this race, as athletes of all abilities race at picturesque locations around the world.

– Geri Horner – better known by her Spice Girls’ nickname Ginger Spice – NSYNC singer Lance Bass are among many stars who lent their voices for the audio experience in the Wings for Life World Run App.

– This year alone, over 150,000 runners are expected to participate with celebrities such as alpine ski world champion Marco Odermatt, Kanoa Igarashi (Olympic silver in surfing), World Rally Champion Sebastian Ogier, Olympic 400-meter hurdles champion Karsten Warholm, soccer heroes Trent Alexander-Arnold and Gianluigi Donnarumma, surfing legend Björn Dunkerbeck and skateboarding star Leticia Bufoni just as much a part of the party.

– Anita Gerhardter, CEO of the Wings for Life Foundation, declared: “We’re already very much looking forward to May 7, when the Wings for Life World Run is celebrating a special anniversary. This run is something very special. Anyone can participate, and all entry fees are donated to a good cause. The more money we raise, the more studies we can help fund – and the faster we can reach our overall goal.”

– International Sports Director Colin Jackson highlights the global nature of the event, with participants running simultaneously for the same cause, stating: “So many people all running in a single event at the same time for the same cause – it’s just extraordinary!”

– The Wings for Life Foundation, funded by the event, has supported 276 projects, including programs to accelerate research, such as the Accelerated Translational Program (ATP).

– This helps shorten the time for pre-clinical research projects to reach the clinical study stage, where they can be tested on people. The programme provides researchers with money and gives them access to knowledge and an international network of experts.

– Dr Verena May, Scientific Coordinator for Wings for Life, said: “There are currently 74 research projects around the world, including 16 new ones since 2022. These focus mainly on regeneration, reconstruction and secondary damage. That’s marvellous and an important step.”

– The organization collaborates with a network of global experts and regularly publishes research findings in specialist journals to facilitate future research. -Researchers like Professor Michael Kilgard from the University of Texas and Grégoire Courtine from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland are working on groundbreaking therapies for spinal cord injury, such as stimulation of the vagus nerve to allow people with spinal cord injury at a high level to move their hands again and electrostimulation to enable people to walk a few steps again.

– Another key area is the research being undertaken by Professor Stephen Strittmatter including a study at Ohio State University on ‘Nogo Trap’, which allows the body to regenerate severed nerve fibres, thereby restoring a neural network – a potentially groundbreaking moment.

– Professor Stephen Strittmatter is optimistic about the progress and said: “It’s not a question of if, but when we can cure spinal cord injury. Replicating the research findings in clinical trials is the most important thing now.”

– His colleague Professor Jan Schwab added: “The RESET trial is unique. If this really works, as hoped, this trial would help establish a new class of substances: molecules that can make nerve fibres regenerate and thus also enable the regaining of function, and that would be a milestone.”

Facts & Figures:
– 1,086,988 people have taken part in nine Wings for Life World Runs.
– €38.3 million of donations have been collected by the Wings for Life World Runs.
– 100% of the donations have gone to spinal cord research.
– 35,397 runners started the first Wings for Life World Run in 2014. At the ninth edition last year, there were 161,892 people taking part from 192 nations.

Register for the Wings for Life World Run HERE

Learn about seven exciting projects funded by the Wings for Life World Run that offer
hope for spinal cord injuries HERE