Formula One ace David Coulthard, daredevil Felix Baumgartner, Paris-Dakar champion Marc Coma, and US off-road truck champion Ricky Johnson will be among the 35 Catcher Car drivers chasing tens of thousands of runners in the second Wings for Life World Run on May 3, 2015.
With three weeks to go, the big names and the big numbers keep coming in the global charity running phenomenon that already has 60,000 registered competitors.
With registration closing on April 28, the likes of Australian Formula One drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Mark Webber, German marathon champion Sabrina Mockenhaupt and French World Cup downhiller Luc Alphand will be taking part, trying to keep ahead of the event’s unique Catcher Car, which acts as a moving finish line.
Both the runners and the Catcher Car drivers are expected to have a lot of fun, action and challenges on the way.
Scotland’s David Coulthard, for example, has built a career on blistering speeds and being first to the finish line, but at the Wings for Life World Run next month, a more sedate pace will have his heart pounding like never before.
“I love the irony of it”, said Coulthard, a veteran of over 240 Formula One races. “I spent my life putting the pedal to the metal, and here I am at Silverstone driving at a dizzying 15 km/h. But the best part about my race day is that I know I will eventually overtake my former team mate Mark Webber, who is running at Silverstone.”
Other notable names getting behind the wheel include skiing giants Bruno Kernen and Jon Olsson, Ireland’s rugby union star Simon Zebo as well as GP2 talent Pierre Gasly, all chasing down the athletes running to raise funds and awareness for spinal cord research.
Felix Baumgartner, who will be the driver at the Wings for Life World Run in Bucharest, Romania added: “To me, sports is about setting a goal. My goal is to be the last driver out there on May 3.” Which would mean Romania would crown the Global Champion, but with 34 other locations starting at the same time, that is setting the bar high.
Last year, rally driver Franz Wittmann was the last man driving when he caught the first ever Global Champion, Ethiopian Lemawork Ketema, after an astonishing five hours and 78 kilometres at the run in Donautal, Lower Austria.
“By the time we caught up with Lemawork, we were joking about finding a gas station if this guy keeps on running”, Wittman said. With great runners around the world in 2015, this could be a long day at the office for the drivers chasing them.
HERE IS HOW IT WORKS
At 11.30am UTC, half an hour after the runners have started, the Catcher Cars start driving at precisely 15km/h (9.32 miles/hr). At 12.30, they speed up to 16km/h, at 13.30 to 17km/h, at 14.30 to 20 km/h and at 16.30 to 35 km/h. All the drivers will speed up at the same time, worldwide, and maintain the same speed. After two and a half hours, the runners will have covered 31km. Since the Wings for Life World Run starts at 11am UTC in all 35 locations, a Global Race Control and the help of technology ensure that all drivers speed up at precisely the same moment.
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