THOUSANDS of women flooded Prospect Park with a sea of pink for July’s Race for Life.

Mums, daughters, grans, and aunties raised just shy of £275,000 for Cancer Research UK by taking on either a 5km, 10km or Pretty Muddy challenge.

Now Cancer Research UK are calling on everyone to ensure their fundraising is in so they can smash the £300,000 target.

Simon Burley, Race for Life event manager for Reading, said: “We are so grateful to everyone who took part in Race for Life, and their supporters, as well as our heroic volunteers.

“It was a fantastic day, full of emotion, courage, tears and laughter as thousands of women joined forces to conquer cancer.

“Now I’m asking everyone who took part – and all the friends, family and colleagues who pledged to sponsor them – to transform their passion into progress by returning the money they’ve raised as soon as possible.

“We’re encouraging all the heroic ladies who took park to show off their pictures from the day to encourage their sponsors to return what they’ve pledged.

“Many people don’t realise that their entry fee only covers the cost of the event.

“It’s the sponsorship money that really makes a difference.”

You can pay in your sponsorship money fees by phone, cheque or in person at a Cancer Research UK shop.

Nell Barrie, senior science communication manager for the charity, said one-in-two people will get cancer at some point in their life.

“Our researchers are dedicated to discovering new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer,” she said.

“They are tackling the disease on all fronts – developing personalised medicine, where patients will have treatment tailored to their cancer, immunotherapy which harnesses the immune system to target the disease, better screening and tests, and ways to help prevent the disease.

“But each year more and more people are diagnosed with cancer, so there’s still much more to do.

“That’s why we need everyone who took part in Race for Life in Reading to take the vital last step by returning their sponsorship money so that our scientists, doctors and nurses can make strides forward in research.”