Last updated 20:33, Thursday, 17 July 2008

HUNDREDS of West Cumbrian women, whose lives have been touched by cancer, joined forces last weekend in the Race For Life.

• Watch the Race for Life video here

Fund-raisers of all ages descended on the Sheepmount Stadium in Carlisle to remember cancer sufferers and celebrate the survivors in aid of Cancer Research.

Two 5km races were held with 3,187 running at 11am and 486 at 3pm.

A minute’s silence marked the start of each event as women stood shoulder to shoulder with the names and pictures of loved ones and friends who have passed away or who are battling the disease displayed on their backs.

Staff at Specsavers in Workington raised more than £640.

The seven women from the Murray Road opticians raised the money through sponsorship and with a raffle, with prizes donated by local businesses.

The staff that took part were Carol Barr, 47, of Seaton, Carol King, 52, of Curzon Street, Maryport, Margaret Whitehead, 47, of Harrington, Helen Payne, 45, of Workington, Amy Leech, 28, of Croftfield Road, Seaton and Tracy Cannon, 28, of Basket Road, Whitehaven.

They were organised by Pauline Cowan, 50, of Lonsdale Street, Whitehaven.

She said: “Everybody took part in the race for their own reasons. One of the ladies was doing it in memory of her grandparents who she lost to cancer. The other team members were all running for their parents but for different reasons.

“One of the team took part in memory of her father who lost his battle with cancer, another ran for her parents who are fighting the disease at the moment.

“One of the other team members wanted to help the Cancer Research because her mum was cured of the disease.”

“We all had the names of the people we were running for printed on the back of our T-shirts.”

Mrs Cowan said it was the first time any of the team had done the Race For Life.

She said: “We all wanted to do something as a team that was going to help people.

“We saw the event advertised and thought it would be a good thing to do.

“Most of us walked the course and finished in about 50 minutes although our fastest finisher completed it in 35 minutes.

“We had an excellent time and are all going to do it again next year.”

The winner of the 11am race was Caroline Brett, 37, of Carlisle, who completed the course in 18 minutes 28 seconds. First across the line in the 3pm race was 12-year-old Zoe Campbell, who finished in around 21 minutes.