I’ve just uploaded the pictures I took of Beth and a number of other women from St James taking part in the 2006 Race for Life, held in Prospect Park, Reading, in aid of Cancer Research. As some of the people in the St James team were from the Youth Group and Junior Choir, the team shots that include them aren’t generally available, however there are some general views of the scenes in the park, and also a shot of Beth finishing and getting her medal.

As you no doubt will have realised it, it probably wasn’t the ideal day to run a race, as although the event started at 7:30pm, when it was starting to cool, with the record breaking temperatures earlier in the day, it was still pretty warm at the start.

We had a large contingent of people from St James, many running and walking in memory of Rev Sheila, our former priest-in-charge who died as a result of breast cancer. Having said that, as an indication of quite how many lives the disease touches, almost everybody was running for a number of other people too.

The race was divided into two, runners and walkers. At the front were the more serious runners, the fastest of which completed the 5km course in just over 20 minutes. The fastest of the St James participants came in not too long after that, with many of our team coming in between 30 and 60 minutes. Beth came in at 55 minutes, which was just over her target of 50 minutes, partly because she ended up quite a long way back in the walkers at the start.

For such a hot day, there were relatively few problems that I saw – most people drinking lots of water as they went around the course. The organisers also relented over not giving out free water at the finish. Certainly all our participants seemed to have got around without too many problems.

In terms of the money raised, a quick total up amongst about half the team before the race came to about £2000 – a really superb total. I’m sure Beth will be posting a full description of what it was like to participate over the next couple of days.

Incidentally, if at this point you are thinking that it is slightly sexist, only allowing women to enter – it is possible for men to get into the race – with a little bit of deviousness. We spotted a couple of men, with valid numbers, in this years race in fairly obvious drag – complete with handbags… 😀 Whether they managed to enter themselves, or whether somebody else entered for them we don’t know. Having said that, the officials didn’t seem to make a fuss over it, and they added to the entertainment on the night.