FOR the first time, women, men and children joined the Redditch Race for Life on the weekend.

More than 1,000 people took part in the 5k and 10k runs, raising thousands of pounds for Cancer Research UK.

The event was held yesterday at Arrow Valley Park and saw grown-up sons taking part alongside their mothers.

Taking part in the Race for Life is a hugely moving experience as people come together to remember loved ones lost to cancer, celebrate the lives of those dear to them who have survived or support those going through treatment.

Katie Bevan, Cancer Research UK’s Redditch Event Manager, said it was a perfect example of everyday people doing an extraordinary thing – uniting in a common cause to beat cancer.

Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life, in partnership with Tesco, is an inspiring series of 5k, 10k, Pretty Muddy and Pretty Muddy Kids events which raise millions of pounds every year to help beat cancer by funding crucial research.

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 now than ever before.

Cancer survival in the UK has doubled since the early 1970s and Cancer Research UK’s work has been at the heart of that progress.