THOUSANDS of women and girls ran, jogged and walked around a North-East park to raise money for charity yesterday.

Bright blue skies greeted the 4,000 participants in the Darlington Race for Life as they made their way round the 5km course.

It is the eighth time the event has been held in the town’s South Park, and this year the race is expected to raise more than £197,500.

The event is organised by Cancer Research UK and is one of 230 Races for Life taking place across the country.

In Darlington yesterday, the race was started by 14-yearold Lilli Broadbent, from High Coniscliffe, near Darlington, who was diagnosed with cancer last year.

Lilli, a Hummersknott School pupil, has successfully battled osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer.

Many of the runners had pinned the names of the people who inspired them to take part in the event on their backs.

The first runner to cross the finish line was 12-year-old Indigo Hilton, a Polam Hall pupil, from Darlington.

Indigo completed the course in just over 21 minutes, improving on her placing of sixth in last year’s run.

She decided to take part in the event in memory of a friend’s aunt. Indigo said: “One of my best friends, Eve, her auntie died of cancer a couple of weeks ago and I want to help people like her to get over it.

“I think we’ve raised more than £100.”

The good weather drew the crowds to South Park and the organisers hope to return there next year.

Holly Howey, the area events manager for Cancer Research UK said: “We couldn’t have asked for a better day.

It was absolutely brilliant.

“It’s a really emotional day, but it’s been a great family day out. This is the eighth time it’s been in Darlington.

We’ve got events all across the North-East, and we’ll just keep doing it.

“Hopefully, if we achieve the target for all the North- East events, we’ll raise the £1.3m that we hope to achieve this year.”