Hospital staff in Race For Life

22 May 2001

Media invitation:
Date:  Tuesday 5 June, 1pm
Venue:  Hardwick Heath, Nr. West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds

Event:

Female staff from West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds will be practising for a charity run on Hardwick Heath on Tuesday 5 June.  The women will be training for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund's (ICRF) Race For Life campaign.

Since 1994, ICRF has organised a national series of 5km walks or runs for women to raise funds for pioneering cancer research.  All women who take part are asked to set themselves a fundraising target of £30.  Last year 120,000 women took part and over £5 million was raised.

For many participants the run is a special way of celebrating or commemorating someone close who has or had cancer.  One in three people will develop cancer at some stage in their lives with around 250,000 new cases in the UK every year.

Around 40 nurses, doctors and other staff from West Suffolk Hospital will be taking part in the run on Nowton Park on 24th June.  They are having a practise run on Hardwick Heath on 5 June, to which media are invited.

We all want to get a bit of exercise and raise money for a good cause, said Liz Whittaker, Coronary Care Unit nurse and event organiser.  None of us expect to run a four-minute mile, but we do hope to beat last year's fundraising target and have fun.

Note:

Imperial Cancer Research Fund is one of the world's leading cancer research organisations.  They employ over 1,000 doctors and and scientists who work to understand the causes of cancer, learn how cancer can be prevented and find new treatments for the disease.