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• Dubai runners show support in unofficial tribute to Wings for Life World Run
• First ever Wings for Life World Run conclude on 34 courses in 13 time zones
• World run participants ran an equivalent of 13 laps around the world
Dubai, 6 April, 2014: More than one hundred and fifty Dubai runners gathered at Nad El Sheba Cycle Park to run for those who can't at the Cisco Tiani Dubai Run, in support of the Wings for Life foundation, which aims to find a cure for spinal cord injuries.
With no official Wings for Life World Run planned in Dubai this year, Cisco employee Chris Khouri decided to take initiative and organize the Cisco Tiani Dubai Run which shares the former's heart and spirit. 100% of the entry fees collected have been allocated to support the Wings for Life foundation.
Khouri's spinal cord was severely damaged in 2009 and since then, he continues to prove that excuses are the only thing stopping anyone from achieving what they want from life.
Meanwhile, on 34 courses, in 32 countries, and 13 time zones, 35,397 runners from 164 nations took part in pulsating virtual duels that played out on 6 continents. The first-ever Wings for Life World Run turned out to be an improbable success.
The goal was to run as far as possible before the “Catcher Cars” that started 30 minutes behind the runners caught them. A total of 29,847 runners were still in the race after an hour – an impressive achievement by any standard. The number was reduced even more dramatically in the third hour as only 327 runners were still in the race at that point and by the four-hour mark there were just 26 runners left. A total of 233 runners reached the marathon distance of 42.2 kilometers.
A 78-kilometer long race came down to a thrilling sprint finish between two runners battling it out on two courses separated by 11,000 kilometers, as Lemawork Ketema of Ethiopia out-sprinted Remigio Huaman Quispe of Peru to win a dramatic intercontinental duel by just 90 meters.
24 hours after the end of the Wings for Life World Run, Race Director Colin Jackson announced some of the staggering official numbers. In Sunday's race for charity, the 35,397 runners ran a total of 530,928 kilometers – or the equivalent of one runner taking more than 13 laps around the world.
The entire amount of the entry fees from the 50,398 registered runners and additional donations made on top all went exclusively to the Wings for Life charity, which raised a total of 3 million euros.
Running on the course in Austria, Ketema was not only dueling against the irrepressible Quispe, who was running at some 1,500 meters altitude in Peru, but he was also locked in a tense battle with Glyva in their race along the Donau river valley. He stayed hot on Glyva's heels for more than an hour in their electrifying battle in the midday race before finally making his well-timed move to sprint past the Ukrainian distance runner at the 5-hour mark just as one of the 34 'Catcher Cars' closed in behind them. Quispe, on his own in the race in Lima, Peru that started before dawn, was the only other runner left as the 'Catcher Cars' closed in from behind at a 20-km-per hour pace.
'It was an incredibly close finish,' said Colin Jackson, the international race director, who monitored the most complex long distance running event ever staged from the Red Bull Ring F1 circuit in Spielberg, Austria. 'It was an outstanding day and an outstanding occasion.' Wings for Life CEO Anita Gerhardter announced that the world run will become an annual fixture with the date for the next race set for May 3, 2015.
In the women's race, 18-year-old high school student Elise Molvik of Norway took first place by running 54.79 kilometers before the 'Catcher Car' in Stavanger, Norway caught up with her. Molvik had never run further than 30 kilometers before and will share the first spectacular first-place award with Ketema - a highlight-filled month-long trip around the world to meet sporting and business legends.
Under the banner slogan 'Running for those who can't', tens of thousands of runners and roll chair racers from all walks of life took part with celebrities and top athletes in the global happening. Former F1 driver Mark Webber of Australia ran 28.36 km and world class skiers Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway reached 28.22 km while France's Luc Alphand ran 22.08 km.
Global Results Men: 1. Lemawork Ketema (ETH)/ run in Austria 78.57 kilometers, 2. Remigio Huaman Quispe (PER)/ Peru 78.48, 3. Evgeny Glyva (UKR)/ Austria 78.40, 4. Giorgio Calcaterra (ITA)/ Italy 72.96, 5. Paul Michelletti (NZL)/ UK 69.37, 6. Daniele Baldino (ITA)/ Italy 65.24, 7. Wouter Decock (BEL)/ Belgium 65.11, 8. Rainer Predl (AUT)/ Austria 65.02, 9. Rainer Achmüller (AUT)/ Italy 64.07, 10. Wolfgang Wallner (AUT)/ Austria 64.02;
Global Results Female: 1. Elise Molvik (NOR)/ Norway 54.79 kilometers; 2. Nathalie Vasseur (FRA)/ France 51.26; 3. Svetlana Shepalova (MDA)/ Turkey 48.29; 4. Mfanzi Ntombesintu (RSA)/ South Africa 47.57; 5. Lea Bäumler (GER)/ Germany 46.23
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