Daron and Shannon Rahlves at the end of the May 3 race. Photo/Balazs Gardi/Red Bull Content Pool

In the world’s only global race with a synchronized starting line and no traditional finish line, more than 101,000 runners from around the world ran the second annual Wings for Life World Run on Sunday, a race which aims to find a cure for spinal cord injury.

In the end, the last male and female running globally were Ethiopian Lemawork Ketema in Austria and Yuuko Watanabe in Japan, who ran for 49.7 miles and 35 miles, respectively, before being reeled in by a “catcher car”, an innovative moving finish line that pursued the runners from behind.

In Santa Clarita, runners Thibault Baronian (34.3 miles; 2014 France male winner) and Shannon Rahlves (29.6 miles; sister of 2010 Winter Olympic freestyle skier Daron Rahlves), and Sunrise, Fla., runners Svein Risa (34.1 miles; 2014 Norway male winner) and Nathalie Vasseur (32.4 miles; 2014 France female winner) were the last running before being caught.

As top U.S. finishers, they will choose anywhere in the world to run in next year’s Wings for Life World Run. In all, there were runs in 35 locations in 33 countries on six continents (all concurrent).

“This was an opportunity to support the Wings for Life Foundation and run on the team my brother Daron Rahlves put together,” Shannon Rahlves, who lives in Reno, said in a statement. “I expected to run 15-18 miles, but once I knew the catcher car was getting close, I told myself, I’ve got to run!