Formula One ace David Coulthard has been announced as the Catcher Car Driver for the Silverstone leg of the Wings for Life World Run. He will be among 35 Catcher Car drivers chasing tens of thousands of runners in countries across the world during the second Wings for Life World Run on May 3, 2015.
With just over three weeks to go until the 2015 Wings for Life World Run, the big names and the big numbers keep coming in the global charity running phenomenon that already has 60,000 registered competitors.
It has ben announced today that Formula One legend David Coulthard will get behind the wheel at the iconice Silverstone Race Track once again. He has built a career on blistering speeds and being first to the finishing line, but at the Wings for Life World Run next month, a more sedate pace will have his heart pounding like never before.
“I love the irony of it”, said Coulthard, a veteran of over 240 Formula One races. “I spent my life putting the pedal to the metal, and here I am at Silverstone driving at a dizzying 15 km/h. But the best part about my race day is that I know I will eventually overtake my former team mate Mark Webber, who is running at Silverstone.”
Other notable names getting behind the wheel as catcher car drivers at races across the world include daredevil Felix Baumgartner, Paris-Dakar champion Marc Coma, US motorcyclist Ricky Johnson, skiing giants Bruno Kernen and Jon Olsson, Ireland’s rugby union star Simon Zebo and GP2 talent Pierre Gasly. They will all be chasing down athletes running to raise funds and awareness for spinal cord research.
Last year, rally driver Franz Wittmann was the last man driving when he caught the first ever Global Champion, Ethiopian Lemawork Ketema, after an astonishing five hours and 78 kilometres of pounding the cement at the run in Donautal, Lower Austria.
“By the time we caught up with Lemawork, we were joking about finding a gas station if this guy keeps on running,” Wittman said. With great runners around the world in 2015, this could be a long day at the office for the drivers chasing them.
With registration closing on April 28, the likes of Australian Formula One drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Mark Webber, German marathon champion Sabrina Mockenhaupt and French World Cup downhiller Luc Alphand will all be taking part, trying to keep ahead of the event’s unique Catcher Car, which acts as a moving finish line.
To register for the Silverstone leg of the Wings for Life World Run head to
