The Wings for Life World Run flew into Santa Clarita early Sunday morning, raising money for spinal cord injury research.

The global running movement started simultaneously around the world, with the race kicking off in Santa Clarita at 4 a.m. — raised record amounts of money for research, according to officials.

“I never thought I could win it,” said Ana Villegas, the female champion in Sunrise, Fla.  “I came to run as fast as I could and as long as I could.  I’ll be here next year.”

The fourth edition of the Wings for Life World Run reached record-breaking heights in 2017, raising more than $7.4 million to help find a cure for spinal cord injury.

In this worldwide race with no finish line, wheelchair participant Aron Anderson of Sweden became the new Men’s Global Champion (57.25 miles), while Bartosz Olszewski of Poland was the men’s runner who achieved the longest distance (54.83 miles).  Both distances are more than twice that of traditional marathons (26.2 miles).

The ‘Catcher Car’ is an innovative moving finish line that takes off 30 minutes after the start and steadily increased its speed until the final runners are caught.  Dominika Stelmach (POL) in Chile was the global female champion, setting a women’s world record of 42.38 miles before being overtaken by the car.

In the USA, Santa Clarita, Calif. runners Dan Berteletti (42.87 miles) and Nathalie Vasseur (35.57 miles), and Sunrise, Fla., runners Calum Neff (40.80 miles) and Ana Villegas (27.25 miles) were the last males and females running before being caught.

“The last three months I’ve been focused on training for this race and maintaining a pace,” said Dan Berteletti, the male champion in Santa Clarita, Calif. “My goal was to go over 40 miles.”

Produced by Red Bull in partnership with the Wings for Life Foundation, this ambitious global endeavor has now raised more than $23 million across four years, with 100% of all entry fees and donations devoted to support cutting-edge medical research projects.  More than 44% of the research being funded happens in the USA, including more than 10 projects at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Overall, 155,288 runners and wheelchair participants simultaneously took off at 111 locations in 58 countries, compared to 2016 numbers of 130,732 participants in 34 locations and 33 countries.  Waves of elated runners surged past start lines shoulder-to-shoulder at spectacular destinations – from Vienna, Brasília and Melbourne – to dramatic coastlines in Norway and Spain.  In daylight runs, participants in Dubai, UAE faced heat edging past 104 degrees, while clouds cooled the Central European runners in locations like Kakheti, Georgia. The coldest location was in Poznan, Poland – a brisk 48 degrees.

Some people chose to participate alongside thousands of others at one of the official event locations around the world, while others downloaded the Wings for Life World Run App and took park anywhere they chose – at exactly the same time, chased by a virtual Catcher Car.  

In New York City, people gathered together in beautiful Central Park by downloading the app and staying ahead of the virtual Catcher Car as long as they could. In Madison, Wisconsin, reigning Olympic gold medal triathlete Gwen Jorgensen, who is six months pregnant, ran 17 miles before the virtual Catcher Car reeled her in.  This virtual catcher car took off 30 minutes after the start at approximately 9 MPH and steadily increased its speed.

The global champions, as well as all local race winners, will get to pick where they want to run in next year’s edition of the Wings for Life World Run, which is already set for May 6, 2018.  

Ed. Note: This article is a press release from Wings For Life