THEY are called the Golden Girls and, as families go, the relatives from across the county who are joining together for this year’s Race for Life are a pretty special bunch.

Three of them are in their 80s – and would probably love nothing more than to watch on from the sidelines as their younger relations jog along the five-kilometre course.

And yet the Golden Girls – who come from areas across Oxford, Kidlington, Witney and Banbury – are not putting their feet up.

Instead, they are demonstrating something very pleasing about both the nature of family and the power of the quietly determined.

Many of us could learn a lot from the story of Pam Powell and her relatives – so why not get your running shoes out and jog along with them on July 13?