It’s 5 May 2024, 12:00 BST, the sun is beaming down as I complete the last few stretches on my front porch. A countdown begins to echo through my headphones “10, 9, 8..” I take a swig of water and place my bottle on the floor “3, 2, 1, GO!” and we’re off.
The World Run is an annual event, in support of our Global Charity Partner, Wings for Life. It brings together people from all over the world, united in the same goal to run for those who can’t. Wings for Life is a not-for-profit organisation, funding medical research and clinical trials focused on the spinal cord. An injury to the spinal cord can happen to anyone, a simple slip, trip or fall in everyday life could result in an injury, let alone something more drastic like a traffic accident or a fall during a sporting activity. In an otherwise underfunded area of medicine, the Wings for Life foundation uses 100% of donations in life changing research, and funded 62 research projects in 2023 alone. Their goal is to cure spinal cord injury, and give the gift of movement back to those who have been affected.
Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division has been supporting Wings for Life for more than 10 years’ with regular sign ups to the World Run as part of our commitment. Over the last few years’ we’ve seen the support for #TeamHexagon grow considerably, including multiple sign ups from other Hexagon divisions. The 2024 event saw more cross-divisional support than ever before, with runners taking part from all 5 Hexagon divisions and some of our Corporate team too.
Wings for life is a run like no other
The setup of the World Run is like no other. All participants start at the same time, all over the world. Any weather, in the dead of night, early morning or for some runners like myself, a comfortable midday start (although for the past 5 years’ the World Run has been accompanied by an unexpected heatwave in the UK, making it somewhat less comfortable). There is no finish line, this isn’t a marathon/half/10km, your pace sets the distance. A car dubbed “the catcher car” is released 30 minutes after the race start, and your race ends once it catches up with you.
By race day, #TeamHexagon had 136 runners signed up to take part, covering 27 countries. As always, the team gave it their all, with the top 3 runners all covering more than 30km!! Simply incredible.
My World Run was at a far gentler pace… covering just under 9km by the time the catcher car got me. I quickly came to regret leaving my water bottle at my front door, as the 7km lap back to home was more grueling than I anticipated. Some of our team completed the event at an in-person, flagship event, with real-life catcher car. For me, it was an app run where I could choose my own route while being tracked by GPS. In hindsight, I should have picked a route with slightly less hills…. But it’s all learnings ahead of next year.
#TeamHexagon is just that, a TEAM. My individual stats aren’t what’s important here – what we’ve been able to achieve collectively is.
- The highest total raised in #TeamHexagon World Run history thanks to donations and entry fees from our employees, friends and family.
- An overall worldwide position of 73 out of over 500 World Run teams.
- Involvement from all corners of Hexagon, with sign ups from every Hexagon division
I may not be the best runner in the team, but I am so proud to lead #TeamHexagon. Their commitment, their motivation and their strength are what keeps my feet moving during the World Run, and without me even mentioning it…. We already have 7 runners signed up to the 2025 event.
We are Hexagon. We run for those who can’t.
