ORGANISERS of this year’s Race for Life events in Oxfordshire have said a big thank you to runners after announcing they raised nearly £450,000.

In all, the 5,000 women running in two record breaking events in Oxford’s University Parks in June raised £342,000 for Cancer Research UK — £2,000 more than their ambitious goal.

And following the event at Cornbury Park, Charlbury, in July, £60,000 has so far been handed over in sponsorship from runners who completed the 5km race, with another £28,000 from runners who did 10km.

The charity had only expected to raised £12,000 from the longer distance race.

Cancer Research UK events manager for Oxfordshire Becky Ryczowski said the events in Oxford had proved so successful that they would hold a third race in the city next year.

She said: “We have beaten our target which is fantastic. What we do year on year is look at the figures and participants and break it down, then add a bit more to challenge ourselves. We are so thrilled.”

Last year, the charity spent nearly £27m on research in Oxford, with the new Gray Institute for Radiation, Oncology and Biology on the Churchill Hospital site home to 19 different research groups.

Miss Ryczowski said: “Because Oxford is one of our research centres, I think there is added awareness of what we do.”

Nationally, more than £44m has been raised at Race for Life events this year, and Miss Ryczowski said money usually continued coming in right up to the next event — with the launch prompting many runners to hand over forgotten sponsorship.

She said: “It has been a record-breaking year for us, our biggest to date.

“We are hoping next year will be bigger and better.”

The Race for Life fundraising team are already in discussions with staff at Cornbury Park about the possibility of returning next year, and the Oxford races once again look set to take place in early June.

Next year’s series of fundraising races will be officially launched in January.

The event sees thousands of women nationwide running together to raise money and awareness of the work of Cancer Research UK. Many have personal experience of the disease.