THOUSANDS of women donned fancy dress, pink clothes and trainers to take part in the Race for Life on Bournemouth seafront.

Ladies of all ages lined up close to Pier Approach for two 5ks and 10k events by the beach, taking place at 9am and 11.30am, which took all runners past Boscombe Pier.

All our pictures from the 9am races here and the 11am race here

Each person who had turned out for the event had a different reason for being there but shared the same motive of raising as much money as possible for Cancer Research UK.

Bournemouth Echo:

Liz Frisby, organiser of the event, said that collectively walkers, joggers and runners taking part in the day’s events would raise £246,000 for the charity. She added that it would be great if enough money was raised that one day cancer would no longer exist and reminded runners to submit their fundraising money after the event.

Kim Fletcher, 39, from Boscombe East, was second past the finishing line with a time of around 24-minutes for the 5k starting at 9am.

She said: “My mum died of secondary breast cancer in 2010 and since then, there seems to be so many people, friends and people I know, being diagnosed with cancer.

Bournemouth Echo:

She added that she was raising money for the charity ‘so that nobody has to go through this like myself and my family.’ “This year I wanted to come in the top 30 finishers and couldn’t accept anything less. Every time there’s any kind of charity event, like a coffee morning, I always try and do it for Cancer Research.”

Gemma Mitchell had been in training for the past year to get out of her wheelchair and take on the 5k using her walking frame, being given a 10-minute head start amongst cheers from onlookers.

Bournemouth Echo:

Helen Woolnough, 36, from Winton, ran the Race for Life 5k with daughter, Logan, eight. She said: “I did the event because when I was 13, my dad died of cancer. I have done the Race for Life before but this was Logan’s first one.”

Nicola Matthews, 27, Gill Berry, 49, and Tracy Bolton, 50, from the Scissors group in Christchurch, also took on the challenge.

Gill said: “We were all together doing the Race for Life because so many of our family members have passed away with cancer.” Tracy added: “We also believe that if you can do something to help by raising money, then do it.”