World’s best RaceRunners gathered in Frederiksberg for the World Championships

Added 09-07-2017

It’s going to be an unforgettable weekend at Frederiksberg Stadium when the RaceRunning World Championships are held for the fifth time from July 13th to July 15th. Denmark’s chances of achieving medals are believed to be good.

94 para-athletes (disabled athletes) are participating in this year’s RaceRunning World Championships. RaceRunning is an innovative sport for athletes with a disability that causes impaired balance - such as cerebral palsy.

A RaceRunner is a custom-built bike made for running, which has three wheels and no pedals. It gives the athlete the opportunity to move freely and run using own force - something that the athletes are not able to do under normal circumstances. RaceRunning is a Danish invention and the World Championships are held once every four years.

- It’s going to be a wonderful couple of days at Frederiksberg Stadium with lots of excitement. The level of competition is higher than ever so it’s really hard to predict who is going to come out on top this year, says Mansoor Siddiqi, inventor of the RaceRunner and chief national coach of the Danish national team.

It’s the third time that Denmark is hosting the World Championships, which is going to be run in three different classes: RR1, RR2 and RR3. A total of 13 nations are competing in Frederiksberg, however there is still a lot of optimism surrounding Denmark’s chances of medals.

- The international RaceRunners have been improving a lot, however I still see us as part of the top. Our RaceRunners from the Danish national team, Lasse Kromann from Odense (RR2) and Helle Ladefoged from Randers Freja (RR3) both have good chances of achieving important results, Mansoor Siddiqi says.

Mansoor further encourages people to watch out for Thea Berggren Jørgensen who set an unofficial world record on the 300m distance (300m is not a discipline included in the World Championships) during Herning Games in Denmark back in May.

- Thea and Helle, albeit running in the same class (RR3), are not going to compete against each other seeing as Helle is running the 100m and 200m distances whereas Thea is running in the 400m, 800m, 1500m, and 5000m disciplines, says Mansoor.

The sport of RaceRunning is not yet included in the Paralympic Games, however Mansoor hopes that this will change in the future.

- RaceRunning is part of CPISRA, however seeing as the collaboration with the International Paralympic Committee of Athletics is very positive, we hope that it won’t be too long before we see RaceRunning as part of the Paralympic Games.

The 21st RaceRunners Camp & Cup

It’s not only the World Championships that Frederikberg is hosting in the coming week. During the days leading up to the World Championships, Frederiksberg is also hosting the 21st RaceRunners Camp & Cup, which has more than 300 participants – 94 of which are athletes. It is the highest number of participants ever seen.

- We are hosting the camp every year, however this year we are combining it with the World Championships. Athletes are coming from all over the world to obtain some of our “know how” concerning the sport, which they then bring back home and pass on to others, resulting in a further improvement of the sport worldwide, says Mansoor. The Camp starts on Sunday the 9th of July.

General information regarding the World Championships

The World Championships are held at Frederiksberg Stadium between the 13th and 15th of July. 94 athletes are competing in the World Championships, including 38 athletes from Denmark.

Danish profiles:

Helle Ladefoged

Age: 23

Club: Randers Freja Atletik / FA RaceRunner

Disability: Cerebral Palsy

Class: RR3

Lasse Kromann

Age: 21

Club: Odense Atletik / OGF

Disability: Cerebral Palsy

Class: RR2

Thea Berggren Jørgensen: