A total of 265,818 runners took part worldwide in the event, called the Wings for Life World Run, being held for the 11th time.

A total €8.1 million was raised via entry fees and donations for spinal cord research.

WRC star Ott Tänak exchanged four wheels for two legs in taking part in the event for the first time

For Tänak, the cause was particularly poignant, as a close family friend is now wheelchair-bound, due to a spinal cord injury.

Tänak said: "This run touches me quite personally, and the whole movement for people with spinal injuries is really about creating opportunities and solutions for them. I hope that at some point, a solution will be found."

As for his performance on the day, Tänak put in a respectable 14.6 kilometers, adding that he is "actually not much of a runner, to be honest, but I must say that I really enjoyed today and running with sporty people."

Ironically it was being caught up with by a car which brought Tänak's, and everyone else's, race to an end.

The Wings of Life World Run event is unique in not only taking place simultaneously worldwide, but 30 minutes after the start, a "chaser vehicle" heads off in pursuit of the runners, starting off very, very slowly and building up its pace.

When the car catches up with a runner who is still going, that competitor's race is declared over, with the distance they had managed up to that point being logged.

The event is only over once the very last runner has been caught by the chaser.

Tänak was one of 579 people who ran in Estonia alone, around 300 of them on Stroomi rand beach, in North Tallinn.

Other well-known faces included freestyle skier Kelly Sildaru, and nordic combined skier Kristjan Ilves.

Sildaru got to 20.6 kilometers before she was caught; Ilves made it the furthest, perhaps unsurprisingly given his chosen sport, to 27.93 kilometers.

Worldwide, the longest distance was covered by Japanese runner Tomoya Watanabe, who got to about 100 meters past the 70-kilometer mark before he, too, was intercepted, bringing the entire event to its close.

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