- The UK hosted its biggest ever Wings for Life World Run, with events taking place nationwide including, for the first time, at Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Milton Keynes campus alongside runs at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Hill Dickinson Stadium.
- Oracle Red Bull Racing Test and Reserve Driver Yuki Tsunoda joined runners in Milton Keynes alongside Red Bull athlete and UTMB winner Tom Evans, while Red Bull athlete and HYROX star Lucy Procter took part at Queen
Elizabeth Olympic Park. - Globally, Wings for Life World Run 2026 became the biggest edition in the event’s history, with 346,527 participants from 192 nationalities raising €9.2 million for spinal cord injury research, bringing the event’s all-time fundraising total to €69.7 million.
The UK hosted its biggest ever Wings for Life World Run today, as people across the country joined the world’s largest running event to help find a cure for spinal cord injury.
Thousands of runners took part at organised events across the UK, while others joined individually through the Wings for Life World Run App from wherever they chose to run. Unlike traditional races, there is no fixed finish line. Instead, participants run, jog, walk or roll as far as they can before the moving finish line, the virtual Catcher Car, gradually catches up with them, making the event accessible to people of all abilities and experience levels.
Events included, for the first time ever, a run at Oracle Red Bull Racing’s campus in Milton Keynes, where Oracle Red Bull Racing Test and Reserve Driver Yuki Tsunoda ran alongside Red Bull athlete and UTMB winner Tom Evans, and hundreds of runners from across the country.
At Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Red Bull athlete and HYROX star Lucy Procter joined runners taking part in the event, while other major UK runs took place at Hill Dickinson Stadium, home to Everton Football Club, and Newcastle Red Bull’s stadium.
Speaking after taking part in Milton Keynes, Yuki Tsunoda said:
“Wings for Life World Run is about raising money for spinal cord injury research to find a cure. As an athlete, it feels like a very close community, and there are potential risks for athletes all over the world – maybe one day it could be me. One day to be able to find a cure would be amazing.
It’s hard to see that sometimes, because as athletes we always chase our goals and things don’t always go the way we want. It’s not something I can ignore, and I hope one day a cure will become reality.
I’m usually the one chasing on track, so I came here mainly to run and enjoy it. The virtual catcher was close to me lap by lap. Normally I try to build a gap every lap.
The support was great, running with people from the campus and local community was special. Everyone was smiling and the energy was super nice.
It was a really good atmosphere. You should sign up and just run – you’ll have a great time.”
In the UK, Stefan Otway claimed the men’s title after running an incredible 62.94km, while Harriet Tapley became the UK women’s winner with a distance of 38.1km.
This year’s race also saw records fall across the global event. Jo Fukuda of Japan set a new all-time event record by reaching an extraordinary 78.95km as the global men’s winner, while Mikky Keetels of The Netherlands became the new global women’s champion after achieving a world record distance of 62.24km, surpassing the previous women’s record set in 2021. Across the globe, participants collectively took an astonishing 4,243,552,935 steps during the event.
Today’s race spanned every continent. Flagship Runs took place in Vienna, Breda, Munich, Zug, Ljubljana, Zadar and Poznań, while a record-breaking 648 community-organised App Run Events brought the race to standout locations around the world – from Sydney’s Royal Randwick Racecourse and the sunny streets of Pretoria, South Africa, to a night run past the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery in Tokyo, as well as events in São Paulo, Mumbai, Stockholm, Taipei, Warsaw, New York City and Bogotá.
Get notified when registration opens for Wings for Life World Run 2027: https://www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com/en
