Race for Life still awaiting £½m in sponsorship cash (From Bournemouth Echo)

Race for Life still awaiting £½m in sponsorship cash

9:00am Wednesday 12th August 2009 in

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RACE for Life participants have so far failed to return almost half a million pounds in sponsorship money.

Cancer Research say they are £467,000 short in the total amount of sponsorship which was pledged by the thousands of girls and women who took part in the four Race for Life events in Bournemouth and Poole in May and June.

Now the Daily Echo and the cancer charity is urging anyone with outstanding sponsorship money to return their cash and help in the fight against the disease.

Those who took part in the Poole race on May 10 have so far returned £113,719 – £44,000 short of the amount pledged but very close to the charity’s £116,000 target.

See pictures from the Race for Life events and read Nikki's blog

Just follow the links at the bottom of the story

The second Poole event on June 28 is £94,000 shy of the pledged total of £134,388 and more than £40,000 off the £94,000 target.

And the two races along Bournemouth seafront on June 21 are more than £300,000 short of the total amount participants pledged – an impressive £476,000.

Christina Tomlinson, Race for Life event manager for Poole and Bournemouth, said: “By taking part in Race for Life Poole and Bournemouth women pledged their support to help fund research into a disease that one in three people in the UK will develop at some stage in their lives.

“Now we are asking them to keep that promise and help Cancer Research UK continue its life-saving work by returning their sponsorship money as soon as possible.”

Echo blogger Nikki Hastings, 35, who is battling terminal cancer and took part in the Bournemouth race, said: “Having put so much effort into doing the Race for Life, surely it is only a little bit more effort to collect the money, hassle people, show them my Echo story?

“Perhaps if Cancer Research had more resources a treatment may be found for people in my situation.”

For information on where to return sponsorship money, or if you would like to make a donation, visit the website at raceforlife.org