MORE than 1,200 mothers, daughters, sisters and friends have put on their running shoes, found something pink to wear and held hands in the name of fighting back against cancer.

Hundreds of walkers, joggers and runners donned pink T-shirts, leggings, socks and trainers as part of their Race for Life fundraising effort by completing a 5k route in Darlington’s South Park.

The women-only fundraiser has generated millions of pounds worth of donations for Cancer Research UK and Sunday morning’s event saw a staggering £97,600 raised for the charity.

For this year’s annual Race for Life, hundreds of participants were inspired by Victoria Cartwright and Linda Swabey, the sister and mother of Anna Swabey – who blogged her experience of living with a brain tumour.

Courageous Miss Swabey, from Newton Aycliffe, was just 25 when she died in September last year –one day before her dream wedding.

Her sister encouraged all those running in memory of a loved one to find and appreciate the good things in life.

Mrs Cartwright said: “Anna was probably the most fun-loving person you could ever meet – she was amazing.

“In January 2015 she was diagnosed with a brain tumour, it was always terminal and there was no cure, it was just about how we could give her as much time as possible.

“We had 20 months with Anna before we lost her in September last year.

“Anna started a blog not long after she was diagnosed – it’s called Inside My Head. In amongst the blog, she was very frank, very funny, just very matter-of-fact about what she was going through.

“She just made her illness a positive thing, which is so important for everyone to make the most of the time that we’ve got, appreciate who we have and Anna really encompassed that in the blog which was fantastic.”

Many runners pinned handwritten messages to their T-shirts with words of support for others or dedications to those affected by cancer.

One note read: “For those who have suffered and those who are suffering.”

A minute’s silence was also observed before the 11am race start in honour of loved ones diagnosed with the disease.

Mrs Cartwright added: “Most of us are out here for a reason – cancer is personal to all of us and I think our story amongst all of yours as well just proves how suddenly something like cancer can hit everybody.

“It turns your world upside down and it’s devastating for a family.

“I think it’s important for us and it’s important for everybody to find the positives in things and obviously what everybody is doing here today is amazing, just coming out and doing something positive to put some funding towards stopping this horrendous disease.”