Bournemouth Race for Life, 2011

Something strange happened this morning. Bournemouth seafront changed colour from the usual blue and gold, to....pink! The annual Race for Life was first run to raise both funds and awareness for breast cancer. It's become so popular that now it's to help fight all forms of cancer, but the tradition of wearing pink has continued. and the runners are all women







As the runners pass, you see that many of them have a pink square of paper on their backs. That's where they post the names of the cancer sufferers who they are running for, their friends and families; even themselves.

Sometimes, there are too many names, too much for one person; sometimes not even a name- just an empty wheelchair.

But the Race for Life isn't a sad occasion- in fact it's quite the opposite. These women run for love. Who knew there was so much love in the world?



You'll certainly find a tear in your eye- but then you'll find yourself laughing at some of the antics. The general air is of optimism and hope. It's more like a celebration of the lives lost and a tribute to the bravery of them and their friends and families. It is also a statment of determination that one day a cure will be found. This Marshal (below) 'high-fived' as many runners as he could- and there were thousands of runners.

Mothers brought their children in pushchairs......

.....and others even carried their kids!
Even having a cast on one leg couldn't hold this woman back; and look, she's smiling!

The little girl wasn't so well, but was still determined to be there, so her Mum pushed her in her wheelchair.
Lots of people dressed up for the run. You know it's going to be fun when the cowgirls show up.

They wore funny headgear.

Some of them may have been on a day pass....
And- OMG!- it's Jedward! (If you're not from the UK, you won't understand this one- but trust me, that's something to be happy about. You have been spared Jedward).

People brought their dogs, and some of them were dressed too.

And this band (below) played with joy the whole time, making happy music to raise your feet.

The event has become so popular that it's now been split into 3 races. The first one at 9am was 10K (about 5 miles) and the next two were half the distance. I took over 130 photos, and that was only one race. I would have loved to put them all on here, every single one- because they all deserve to be shown.