Glasgow celebrates 30 years of Race for Life
The charity event kicked off from Glasgow Green this morning
Last updated 22nd May 2023
Thousands of people have set off from Glasgow Green to take part in this year’s Race for Life in aid of Cancer Research UK (CRUK).
This year marks the 30th time the event has taken place since it started in Battersea in 1994.
The race is open to anyone who wants to take part, and fundraisers can walk, run, or jog the 10k, 5k, or 3k routes.
Glasgow’s event is the biggest in Scotland, and area manager for CRUK, Vicky Lambert said: “It’s always got an incredible atmosphere, we’re going to have even more runners on the 3k and 5k, but it took the 10k over five minutes to cross the start line, it’s just amazing.”
The route took runners from Glasgow Green, up Saltmarket, along Trongate, through George Square and then along Buchanan Street, before heading back to the finish.
All of the sponsorship money raised goes towards cancer research, and since the event began, Race for Life has raised almost £500m.
Vicky added: “In some of our events you can also put that money towards specific cancer types, so for our Shine Night Walk event you can put it towards breast cancer or pancreatic cancer, so it’s closer potentially to something you’ve gone through yourself.
“Every penny raised just goes to help in the fight against cancer so, hopefully one day we can cure it and people don’t have to battle this horrible disease.”
Scottish Power’s Aileen Rourke had breast cancer last year and was waving people over the line as they set off on the 10k.
She said: “I was one of the very lucky people very early on to catch these things, not everyone’s quite as lucky, and we’ve lost quite a few family and colleagues, so it’s very important for me to be here today.”
Next year’s Glasgow is already live on the CRUK website and anyone who wants to take part in 2024 can sign up.
Vicky said: “You can walk jog run skip hula hoop, whatever you fancy!”
