Salzburg, April 19, 2021 – The gap between virtual and real life will all but disappear for this year’s Wings for Life World Run thanks to innovative app features designed to create an “event feeling” as never seen before. Despite the pandemic, participants in the global charity run on May 9, 2021 will have the chance to experience the joys associated with road racing even though they will be running in essence on their own.
“Aside from the scramble at the start and the high fives at the finish line, our app can do pretty much everything that you could only otherwise experience at a real running event,” says Colin Jackson, Wings for Life World Run sports director and former Olympic medalist from the United Kingdom. “We’ve developed a digital grab bag with the app that’s a lot of fun: it motivates, it cheers you on, it entertains – with this app we want to give everything that runners around the world are missing on their virtual runs.”
The Wings for Life World Run app has been a work-in-progress since 2015 and has already impressed users with its innovative state-of-the-art features in recent years. With the new and improved app, it will now be possible to stage a global event with tens of thousands taking part simultaneously, running for those who can’t. Even though they will be on a solo run, participants will feel a tremendous sense of community at the virtual race thanks to the app that runners and wheelchair users ordinarily only experience at organized running events.
A number of VIPs and celebrity athletes have lent their voices to the running app in its variety of different national language versions. They will all be part of the unique Audio Experience that will give this year’s run a tangible “global event” feel. Virtual fan clubs and Catcher Car drivers will give the runners and wheelchair users real-time encouragement and information during their race and really step on the gas as they run for everyone who can’t do it themselves.
Modern Family star Ariel Winter from the United States, Poland’s ski jumping legend Adam Malysz, German actor Martin Kessler, who dubs voices in German movies of Vin Diesel, Nicolas Cage and Brad Pitt, Austria’s radio presenter Tom Walek, Spain’s Moto GP world champion Marc Marquez and Liechtenstein’s TV commentator Marco Büchel, and many others will be involved in the action.
“This app will be so much fun to run with,” says Nick Fellows, a former international alpine ski racer and long-time TV broadcaster from the United Kingdom, who plays a big part in the Audio Experience of the UK version: “Everyone can finally have that ‘runner’s high’ again for the first time in more than a year. This app is the perfect tool to connect and have a fun day with like-minded people, but stay safe at the same time.”
The Wings for Life World Run app with an upbeat running playlist is available in 12 languages and can be downloaded from Google Play and App Store. More than 75,000 runners and wheelchair users have already registered for the biggest app run ever, which will start at 11 a.m. UTC on May 9, 2021. Anyone can take part in the global fundraising run – the field of participants ranges from ultrarunners to novice runners. Thanks to the unique running format with the Catcher Car as a rolling finish line, everyone can run together at the same time and have fun for a good cause, despite the different levels.
All information and how to register for the run at www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com
About the 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 a cure is still to be found, steady progress has been made. Every step taken at the Wings for Life World Run is a step in the right direction, because 100% of entry fees and donations go to spinal cord injury research: www.wingsforlife.com.
About the Wings for Life World Run
On one day each year, the Wings for Life World Run is held across the globe. All participants start at the same time, worldwide, and in 2021 they each run individually with the Wings for Life World Run App. It doesn’t matter whether they are professional athletes, fun runners, or total beginners. There is no finish line. Instead, 30 minutes after the start, a virtual Catcher Car begins pursuit, passing the runners and rollers one after the other. Results aren’t measured in time, but in distance achieved. Best of all: 100% of entry fees and donations go directly to spinal cord research and will help to find a cure for spinal cord injury. In the seven completed editions of the Wings for Life World Run, a grand total of 700,000 registered participants from 195 nationalities ran, walked, and rolled on all seven continents and together raised a total of €29.2 million to find a cure for spinal cord injury.
About the Wings for Life World Run App
With the Wings for Life World Run App, people worldwide can join the Run, each on their own, if permitted by any local and national restrictions. A virtual Catcher Car makes it easy and fun.
