Join the Race for Life

Entry to the Rotherham event, which takes place at Herringthorpe playing fields on Sunday, July 18, at 11am, is open now and the charity is asking women and girls to recruit their friends, family and colleagues to take part.

Race for Life is the UK’s largest women-only fund-raising event series and all the money raised goes to fund Cancer Research UK's life-saving work.

Last year in Rotherham, 3,146 participants walked, jogged or ran the 5km event, which took place for the fourth time in the town and raised £154,536.

In 2010, organisers are encouraging 3,000 women of all ages, fitness abilities, shapes and sizes to put their best feet forward and raise £150,000 to help beat cancer.

Every day, about 70 people are diagnosed with the disease in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Race for Life started in 1994 and at the time, many people diagnosed with cancer did not survive.

But over the last 16 years, money generated by the fund-raising event has supported Cancer Research UK’s work and now the overall death rate for the disease has dropped by 15 per cent.

Helen Webster, Cancer Research UK’s South Yorkshire events manager, said: “This year Cancer Research UK's Race for Life is going to be full of amazing moments for everyone—from lining up at the start, side by side with thousands of other women, to reading the inspirational ‘back signs’ worn by participants to the fantastic sense of achievement from crossing the finish line.”

Cancer Research UK funds world-class research and clinical trials throughout South Yorkshire. One involves people in Rotherham with a type of leukaemia taking part in a study to find the most effective treatment for the disease.

Rotherham Race for Life participants will be part of a total of 700,000 women participating in more than 230 events across the UK between May and July and Cancer Research UK hopes that they will raise a total of £60 million to fund the charity’s life saving work.

Helen added: “One in three people in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer at some stage in their lives, but the good news is that more people are beating the disease than ever before.

“Cancer Research UK's work is at the heart of that progress. By helping to raise money through Race for Life, our supporters are turning hope into reality.”

Advertiser writer Michele Vincent is in training for this year's Race for Life and she'll be writing a regular blog on her progress. To read it, find out more about the event and sign up yourself click here for our Race for Life special.