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Race for Life is a series of fundraising events organised by the British charity, Cancer Research UK. They involve running, jogging or walking a 5-kilometre course and raising sponsorship for doing so. The money raised is donated to the charity to fund cancer research and campaigns. The races are limited to women, though men can volunteer to help organise and marshal the event .
History
Race for Life was conceived specifically for raising awareness of women's cancers. The first Race for Life event took place in 1994 when 680 participants participated in a race in Battersea Park, London and raised £36,000. Race for Life has subsequently grown to become one of the UK's largest fundraising events, which in 2006 involved 240 races, 750,000 participants and raised £46 million. Since Race for Life began in 1994, 4.7 million participants across the UK raised over £327 million for the charity. In 2003 a male member of the equality campaign, Parity, objected to being unable to take part in a Race for Life because of his sex. The Equal Opportunities Commission declined to consider his complaint.
Notable participants include Jane Tomlinson, whose first fundraising event was a Race for Life in 2001 after being diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. She went on to raise over £1.75 million for charity before her death in 2007. In 2009 actresses Laila Morse and Lynda Bellingham became a Race for Life ambassadors in memory of Wendy Richard and Jade Goody, both of whom had recently died from cancer.
Criticisms
{Race for Life has been criticised for being discriminatory against men due to banning males from taking part in the races. Equality campaigners such as John Taylor of Parity objected to such discrimination stating "men get cancer too and men are relatives and friends of women who get cancer. They want to do something to help so why are they denied?". Taylor reported the event to the Equal Opportunities Commission Author Brian Clegg echoed such criticisms of the sex discrimination, stating "there is no justification for it, except to reinforce the old stereotypes that only women can be caring and supportive". He further stated that "organizers of Race for Life should drop their appalling sexism" and he argued that "just because it's for a good cause doesn't justify discrimination". Such discrimination is compounded by the fact that men are at a significantly greater risk of cancer than women and have a higher rate of mortality too Despite initially refusing requests to allow men, or have events for men, the organisation did eventually back down and launched Run for Moore. However, this event is strictly focused on bowel cancer, does not run every year, and is not promoted and supported to the same extent as the Race for Life. Other responses to the criticisms have included extending the event to focus on all cancers rather than just female specific ones and also allowing the female participants to run in the memory of a cancer sufferer (of either gender).
See also
References
- Race for life 2009. "FAQ 1.Why is Race for Life for women only?". Retrieved 2008-02-11.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - "About us". Cancer Research UK Race for Life. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
- "`Sexist' Race For Life is slammed by campaigner". Evening Press. 25 March 2003. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
- Nico Hines, Jane Tomlinson, charity fundraiser, dies aged 43, The Times, September 4, 2007
- Race for Life women pay their tributes, The Press and Journal, 3 Marxch 2009