Gallery: Cambridgeshire school pupils remember their teacher in Race for Life
More than 600 children at Hardwick & Cambourne Community Primary School ran a Race for Life in aid of Cancer Research UK, remembering one of their former teachers.
Pupils and teachers at both of the school’s two campuses – in Hardwick and Cambourne – took part in the biannual race on Monday (July 22). In 2017, they raised more than £12,000.
Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School was one of the first schools to run a Race for Life in 2015, and this year’s event was organised by a Golden Morning group of 20 children.
Johnny Atkinson, a Year 3-4 teacher at the Cambourne site said that the decision on how far to run was left up to the children themselves.
Pupils from nursery age to Year 6 took part and, not only did they all finish, but some managed to run several kilometres.
Johnny noted that lots of the children this year dedicated their race to Rachel Evans, a teacher at the school’s Cambourne campus who died from cancer two years ago, not long after running the Race for Life.
Johnny said: “We’re hoping to raise £15,000 this year,” adding that all of the children, parents and teachers thoroughly enjoyed the day.
Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life is a series of events raising money for research into all 200 types of cancer.
Events include 5k and 10k routes for participants to walk, jog or run, as well as the Pretty Muddy obstacle events.
Race for Life started 25 years ago as a women-only event – the first was held in Battersea, in 1994, where 750 participants raised £48,000.
Since then, it has grown into a series of hundreds of events across the country, raising nearly £500million towards beating cancer.
In 2019, for the first time, the Race for Life has opened its doors to men to participate too.
Cambridge’s big Race for Life event took place earlier this month.
