Canadian Wings for Life World Run finalist Blaine Penny to run in Netherlands as Niagara Falls prepares to host international participants in global running race for second-straight year
News from Wings for Life World Run
Posted February 24th, 2016 on Niagara At Large
Niagara Falls, Ontario – February 23, 2016 – In just 10 weeks on Sunday, May 8, the Wings for Life World Run will once again showcase Niagara Falls, Ontario among 35 other locations around the globe hosting the single-day running event in support of spinal cord research.
Wings for Life runners racing under the mist of the Horseshoe Falls. File photo from 2015 run
The Wings for Life World Run is a truly global event with 101,280 participants taking to international starting lines during the 2015 event, and winning it can be a runner’s ticket to see the world. Male and female winners from each regional event are awarded the opportunity to participate at any Wings for Life World Run race location around the world in the following year.
This week, Canada’s 2015 male winner Blaine Penny announced his intentions to run in Breda, Netherlands, representing Canada on the global stage with a goal of breaking his previous distance. Niagara Falls has also emerged as a top choice among other international winners, including those from Poland, Portugal and Turkey.
BLAINE PENNY’S ROAD TO NETHERLANDS
For Calgary’s Blaine Penny, who won the Canadian event in Niagara Falls last year with a remarkable distance of 65km, the win now translates into a trip to the Netherlands to participate in the 2016 Wings for Life World Run. From a choice of 35 locations around the world, Penny selected the run in Breda less so for strategic running purposes, and more so for his family. Asked what inspired him to choose the location, it came down to the biggest motivators in his life – his kids.
One of the past winners
“I chose the Netherlands for a couple of reasons. One, we have never been there and since our daughter is travelling with us, we thought this was the perfect opportunity. Secondly, because our son Evan is having major spine surgery in January, we decided to make this a short trip and a destination with a direct flight was important to us,” says Penny.
Blaine’s son Evan suffers from mitochondrial disease, a debilitating condition that has rendered him quadriplegic with a limited quality of life. It is his son who Blaine routinely credits for enabling him to dig deep during his runs, and who carried him to his remarkable 65km finish in 2015.
“When I run, I run for Evan. Every stride I think of him and wish he could experience the beautiful movement and joy of running” says Penny.
But Penny is still determined to perform at his best, with hopes of another win this year. After doing some initial research into the possible race locations to choose from, Breda appeared to offer some favourable conditions where Penny feels he might be able to achieve his new goal of 70km. Overall, the course is one of the flattest in the word and Breda’s climate shares much in common with Penny’s own stomping grounds here in Canada, though as he points out, “the weather is always the biggest wild card”.
GLOBAL RUNNERS SET SITES ON NIAGARA FALLS
The chance to run next to one of the world’s natural wonders has also attracted the attention of a handful of top runners from around the world who have chosen the iconic Canadian location as their run destination for the 2016 event.
Runners on Table Rock in Niagara Falls
They represent a handful of winners from the 2014 and 2015 Wings for Life World Run events, hailing from Poland, Portugal and Turkey. Also returning home is ultra-runner Calum Neff, who won the 2014 Wings for Life World Run event in Santa Clarita, CA. Among the 35 locations around the world, Niagara Falls is quickly emerging as a ‘must watch’ location. With the calibre of elite runners participating, chances are good that the Canadian event might see a global ‘Top 5’ finalist.
Bartosz Olszewszki, Poland
An accomplished runner and well-known blogger in his hometown of Warsaw, Bartosz ran just over 73km during last year’s Wings for Life World Run event in Poland. Just 6km shy of the global winner Lemawork Ketama, who logged 79.9km at the event location in Austria, Bartosz ranked sixth overall in the global standings among men last year and is a real contender to earn a spot this year.
Doroteia Peixoto, Portugal
Expected to be among the top female runners heading to Niagara Falls, Doroteia won the women’s division in Portugal last year with a total distance of 42km. However, she was hardly showing her full potential, as she accomplished the winning distance against gale-force headwinds reaching up to 55km/hr. On top of that, she decided to register just 24 hours before the run, after completing a 10km competition the prior day. No doubt it will be interesting to see what Doroteia is capable of under more favourable conditions.
Svetlana Shepeleva & Murat Kaya, Turkey
The husband and wife power-couple will be heading to Niagara Falls following Svetlana’s winning run in Alanya last year with a distance of just over 50km. Murat certainly won’t be far behind having won the men’s division in Turkey during the 2014 event.
Calum Neff, Calgary, AB
Now residing in Houston, TX, elite runner Calum Neff will be returning to his Canadian roots for another shot at a first place win. Neff has participated in both Wings for Life World Runs to date, having won first place in 2014 at the run in Santa Clarita, CA with a distance of 58.52km. That initial win took him on an international trip to Turkey last year where he ran 64.3km. This year, Neff plans to attend Niagara Falls on his own accord and aims to hit the 70-80km mark, which would again place him comfortably among the top global finalists.
A RACE FOR EVERYONE
From ultra-marathoners to weekend warriors to first-time runners looking to accomplish their first 5km, the Wings for Life World Run is truly an event for any level of runner.
With no set finish line, runners can enter the race with their own distance goals in mind, whether it be 5km or 50km – it’s all about personal performance. The unique race format means that for each participant, the run doesn’t end until being passed by the ‘Catcher Car’.
The cars, synched by GPS at each location around the world, begin pursuit 30 minutes after runners start off the line. Travelling at 15km/h and increasing speed in predetermined increments, the result means that only one male and one female runner will be left running somewhere in the world.
2015 FACTS & STATS
Here is a quick look at some of the key facts and figures from the 2015 Wings for Life World Run around the world.
Total Runners Global: 101,280 (that’s the equivalent to the entire population of Micronesia)
- Total Runners Niagara Falls: 750
- Total KM’s Run Global: 1,059,529 (that’s 2.7 times the average distance to the moon)
- Longest Distance Run Global: 79.9km by Lemawork Ketama
- Longest Distance Run in Canada: 65km by Blaine Penny
- Total Money Raised Global: $5.5 million CND (4.2 million Euro)
- Total Money Raise in Canada: $45,000 approx.
SPINAL CORD INJURY
It is estimated that 3,000,000 people worldwide are living with a spinal cord injury. Every year 130,000 more sustain a spinal cord injury, followed by paralysis – the main cause being traffic accidents. In Canada, there are over 86,000 people living with spinal cord injury with 51% as a result of traumatic injury.
Each year, it is estimated that there are 4,300 new cases across the country. The advances in research are largely based on private initiatives. Being a non-profit organisation, Wings for Life relies on support and donations to help fund this research. Wings for Life is set up to ensure that 100% of all donations it receives are used exclusively for promising research projects.
About
Wings for Life World Run: Running for those who can’t.
It all started with a simple but intriguing idea on a layover at Moscow airport: What if you could get the whole world running? Everyone, worldwide, on the same day, at the same time. A race of epic proportions with just one lone runner left at the end. A world run. But could it be done? It could.
Meet Anita Gerhardter, CEO of Wings for Life, a charity whose mission is to make spinal cord injury curable. Two years of planning later, the Wings for Life World Run saw the light of day – but not before adding a little twist. The Catcher Cars, vehicles equipped with sensors, introduced to literally catch the runners not running towards a finish line but away from the finish line that chased them.
For more information – Web : www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com Twitter: @WFLWorldRun / @RedBull Canada Instagram: @WFLWorldRun / @RedBullCanada #WingsForLife #WorldRun #NiagaraFalls
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