The Portsmouth Race for Life: what is it, when is it, what does it raise money for and how do I sign up?
ONCE a year – aside from in Covid times - Southsea Common is transformed into a sea of pink.
The colourful display can be credited to the annual Race for Life event that sees runners take on a variety of challenges to raise money for Cancer Research UK – in just one event that is held as part of many across the country.
Usually participants in Portsmouth are treated to running in warmer temperatures, however, the event last year was cancelled entirely due to the pandemic and the one in 2021 was pushed back to the last weekend in October for the same reason.
Nationally Race for Life started 26 years ago as a women-only event. The first event was held in Battersea, in 1994, where 750 participants raised £48,000.
Since that point, Race for Life has grown into a series of hundreds of events across the country, raising nearly £900m towards beating cancer over the last quarter of a century.
And in 2019, for the first time, the Race for Life opened its doors to men to participate too.
This year runners coming to Southsea have the choice of several different runs across the weekend of October 30 and 31.
On the Saturday the two Pretty Muddy races will take place.
Perfect for those in search of a challenge, racers will navigate through a muddy obstacle course to come out the other end.
At 10.30am a special kids’ Pretty Muddy race will start, followed by the 5K Pretty Muddy, open to anyone aged 13 and over, at 12pm.
Then, on the Sunday, there won’t be a drop of mud in sight as the regular 10K (10am), 3K (11.15am) and 5K (12pm) races are held.
The Portsmouth Race for Life event has taken place since 2006.
There is still plenty of time to sign up by visiting raceforlife.cancerresearchuk.org.