A fundraiser for spinal cord research: run, walk or wheel!
Wings For Life is a not-for-profit spinal cord research foundation. Their mission is to find a cure for spinal cord injury. For the past 4 years, this Forster fundraising event has been conducted at the same time as hundreds of others in countries around the world at the same time, on the same day: run, walk or wheel!
The Wings for Life World Run is a truly unique and global race for both runners and wheelchair participants. Instead of a finish line, competitors race side by side to keep ahead of the virtual Catcher Car.
Meet up with your friends, download the Wings for Life World Run App and join all the other people running until the virtual Catcher Car catches you of course.
The race starts at exactly 9pm. The virtual Catcher Car takes off 30 minutes after the start at 14 kmh and steadily increases its speed until the last athletes have been caught. The Catcher Car is a finish line that moves to you. This allows everybody to finish, so you can happily run, walk or roll in a wheelchair and just stay ahead of the Catcher Car as long as you can. That’s what makes it inclusive.
Participants are spurred on with motivational messages through their headphones. You run with thousands of people around the world at the exact same time. And you'll be doing all that running not only for yourself but for a good cause.
100% of your entry fee goes into spinal cord research and will help to find a cure for spinal cord injury.
After our first event, it’s was Reyne’s goal to make it an annual event. Our first year of just 5 runners then turned into 20 the next year, then close to 40 the next.
This will be the 4th year of doing this event in Forster for my good friend Cheyenne. Come along, join the barbecue, have a drink and join this community event for such a good cause.
Our goal for this year is to include other people in a similar situation around the mid north coast and to include our wider community for such an important cause that effects approximately 15,000 Australians. We would love to crack the 100 participants in Forster this year with all of our community invited; ranging from a short evening stroll with your dog, a family outing or test your fitness to see how far you can achieve.
Join us at 9pm (night time) at the Bullring (ocean baths) on Sunday 8 May 2022.
Sign up at www.wingsforlife.com and join “Forster with Chey” or call Forster Tuncurry Physiotherapy on 65545225 for further instruction.
Chey’s story:
Hi, I’m Cheyenne Cooper, and I had a spinal cord injury in 2015 at a T2-T4 level of my spine, causing me to become a paraplegic at the age of 18. The doctors gave me no answer why this happened to me, and could only class it as a spontaneous haematoma.
This now means I live my everyday life in a wheelchair, due to an unexplainable blood clot.
Due to the condition I was now in I had to take up weekly physiotherapy to maintain muscle and bone density as well as my mental health. This is where I met Reyne Black through my partner Josh’s soccer club. Reyne works for Forster Tuncurry Physiotherapy, and took me as his client in 2016.
The start was hard as neither of us had been in this situation before, meaning sessions were mainly improvised as he had never worked with a paraplegic.
The hard work from both of us and commitment meant we gained a strong bond and on our shared birthday, Reyne’s present to me was organising our participation in “Wings For Life”.
Along with my partner Josh and a few other close friends we participated in our first Wings for Life in Manly.