On New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, 1,078 sports enthusiasts from all over Austria completed 5,115 km in the “Virtual New Years Run” and collected 5,893 euros for spinal cord research.
Vienna (OTS) – A start to the year that makes you proud! This year, the fourth edition of SPORTUNION’s “Virtual New Years Run” collected donations amounting to 5,893 euros for the “Wings for Life” organization: 1,078 sports-loving people from all over Austria took part in this charity run over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Under the motto “Running for those who can’t”, the participants started this virtual run on December 31st and January 1st, which was organized by SPORTUNION Austria in cooperation with Wings for Life was organized. The route lengths ranged from 500 meters (for children) to 10 kilometers of walking or running, which the participants recorded using various running apps and then uploaded online.
Run. Walking. Do good.
The entry fee was 5 euros for adults, while children could take part for free. The donation amounted to 2.50 euros per participant in favor of “Wings for Life”. Through generous additional donations, a total of 5,893 euros was raised for spinal cord research. An accompanying competition helped the run become a real “run” with numerous photos on social media and in the running community. In total, the participants who documented their runs or walks online covered a total distance of 5,115 kilometers and ran for a total of 41,742 minutes.
For sport and solidarity. From young to young at heart.
SPORTUNION President Peter McDonald expressed his delight at the participation of the numerous runners, walkers and children: “A big thank you to everyone who contributed to this moving sporting fireworks display and ensured a positive start to 2024. We have once again sent a strong signal of motivation and innovation in sport.” A total of 130 clubs celebrated a sporting New Year’s party throughout Austria. The SPORTUNION Tulln club was once again the most committed with 64 participants, the youngest athlete was Gabriel Zoier (2023), the oldest athlete was Gustav Bergen (1938). With seven running and walking members each, the Blacha and Zinkl families lead the ranking of the sportiest families.
A total of 89,598 euros for Wings for Life
The “Virtual New Years Run” took place for the fourth time and was originally launched as an alternative to the New Year’s Eve runs that were canceled due to Corona. “It’s great to see that despite the lack of restrictions caused by Corona, many people remained loyal to the run or took part for the first time to do good together,” says McDonald, who was unable to take part this time due to a ligament injury. Including this year’s New Year’s Eve run, SPORTUNION has been able to collect a total of 44,215 euros in donations for “Wings for Life” in recent years. With the second SPORTUNION-“Wings for Life” cooperation, the SPORTUNION team challenge as part of the annual “Wings for Life World Run”, SPORTUNION Austria has so far been able to hand over a total of 89,598 euros to “Wings for Life”.
Questions & Contact:
Sports Union Austria
Wolfgang Wonesch
Referent Public Relations
+43 1 / 513 77 14 DW 03
wolfgang.wonish@sportunion.at