Charity: Georgia joins Wings for Life World Run

Thousands of people gathered in Kakheti, Georgia’s popular wine tourism destination to join the Wings for Life World Run today.

The World Run race is the largest charity event in world sport history. Today Georgia has cemented its place as a regular participant country after being involved for the past two years.

Five thousand people registered to run in Kakheti today, including 600 international runners from 35 countries.

Participants paid an entry fee of 20 GEL, with all funds being donated to Wings For Life, a foundation that funds research into finding a cure for spinal cord injury.

The Wings for Life World Run started at 3pm at the turning point to Lopota Lake on the Telavi-Kvareli highway.

Instead of a traditional static finish line, competitors of this event are running from an advancing cordon of Catcher Cars. Thirty minutes after the start signal the Catcher Cars set off in pursuit of the runners, at a constant speed of 15 km/h, accelerating to 16 km/h after one hour. After two hours they accelerate to 17 km/h, and then up to 20km/h after another hour and to 35 km/h after a further two hours. As the Catcher Cars overtake runners, their race is over.

The event organisers in Georgia are Wings for Life and Red Bull.

Last year Georgia raised 100,000 GEL (about $43,000 USD) through the race, while the total amount raised for charity from all races around the world reached €3 million.