Dan Carter joins New Zealand ambassadors for the Wings for Life World Run
The Wings for Life World Run is a unique new global event. In New Zealand on May 4, professional rugby player Dan Carter will join thousands of other runners in up to 40 countries across five continents.
All are running simultaneously for those who can’t.
Dan Carter joins fellow ambassadors, paralympic sailor Andrew May, expedition kayaker Ben Brown, endurance athlete Braden Currie, and media personalities Andrew Mulligan and Jay Reeve. They will all run in the Auckland race at 10pm, on May 4. Carter is excited to be behind this world-first event.
"I'm so lucky to lead an active lifestyle every day. Unfortunately rugby is one of the leading sporting contributors to spinal cord injury in New Zealand. Being a professional rugby player makes this charity close to home,“ says Carter. “It would be so great to know for any New Zealander who has had an unfortunate accident involving a spinal cord injury, that there is a possibility of a cure. That's why the Wings for Life World Run is so important.”
Runners in New Zealand will set off from Hampton Downs Raceway in Auckland at 10pm, simultaneously uniting with runners all around the globe. In California the event starts at 3am, in London the event starts at 11am, while competitors in Germany will set off at midday. There is no static finish line, rather competitors will run in front of an advancing ‘catcher car.’ Half an hour after the runners start, the catcher car will begin behind competitors at a set speed of 15km/h. Once a catcher car overtakes a runner, their race is over. This will continue until there is one male and one female athlete in the world left running. Only they will be crowned the Wings for Life World Run Champions.
100% of the registration fee from each runner will go directly to the Wings for Life Foundation, a non-for-profit foundation with a mission to find a cure for spinal cord injury. The Wings for Life Foundation funds world class scientific research and clinical trials around the globe, aimed at healing the spinal cord.
Over three million people worldwide are living with a spinal cord injury. New Zealand has one of the highest rates of spinal cord injury in the western world, with the average cost of care for a high-level tetraplegic being NZ$212,000 per year. Ben Lucas, CEO of the NZ Spinal Trust, and an incomplete paraplegic who is mostly wheelchair bound says that in New Zealand, motor vehicle accidents are the cause of the majority of spinal injuries. Falls come in second, followed by sport injuries, including rugby, as the third leading cause.
The Wings for life World Run is an event for anyone over 18-years of age, of any fitness level. Participants can register online until April 27, by visiting wingsforlifeworldrun.com.