HAYDOCK Race Course became a sea of pink on Sunday (July 16) as more than 1,000 women joined the battle against cancer by taking part in a Race for Life event.

Hundreds of mums, daughters, sisters and friends showed their commitment to the cause as they came together to help fund new ways to find cures for cancers.

Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life, in partnership with Tesco, is a women-only series of 5k, 10k, Pretty Muddy, Marathon and Hiking events.

Sarah Hunter, Cancer Research UK’s North West events manager, said: “Life-saving research is being funded right now thanks to the women of Haydock running, jogging or walking at Race for Life.

“Our participants play a crucial role in helping to turn discoveries made in the lab into better treatments for patients in Haydock and across the UK and we’d like to thank everyone who took part in the event on Sunday.

“The atmosphere on the day was electric - full of emotion, courage, tears and laughter - as over 1,000 like-minded ladies came together to unite in the fight against cancer. Now we’re asking everyone who took part, and all the friends, family and colleagues who pledged to sponsor them, to return the money they’ve raised as soon as possible."

One in two people in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer at some stage in their lives, but more people are surviving the disease than ever before: cancer survival has doubled since the early 1970s.

Dr Áine McCarthy, Cancer Research UK’s senior science communications officer, said: “We want to see people with every type of cancer, including those that are hard to treat, have the best chance of surviving their disease and living a long, healthy life afterwards. The advances we've made since Race for Life started in 1994 show we are moving in the right direction."

Sponsorship money can be paid online, by phone, by cheque or in person at a Cancer Research UK shop.

For information on returning sponsorship money, or to make a donation, visit raceforlife.org.