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A group of local volunteers are organising this year’s Race for Life after Cancer Research UK said it would not be hosting an event in the island.
Co-organiser Dani Barnett, who is a regular participant in the annual event, conducted a poll on social media to see if islanders would be interested in attending a fundraiser.
“I was trying to find details of this year’s Race for Life and I discovered that an event was being held in Jersey but not Guernsey,” she said.
“I reached out to Cancer Research UK who told me that the last event in Guernsey, which was in 2019 before the pandemic, was not well attended and so they decided not to organise another event in Guernsey this year."
Pictured: Dani Barnett (centre) at the 2018 Race for Life with Jessica Regnard (left) and Melissa Rees.
Mrs Barnett continued: “We (the local organisers) were disappointed as it is such an important event to remember loved ones, celebrate survivors and previvors and raise money for a great cause.”
Race for Life is a national event which sees participants run, jog or walk a three- or five-kilometre route to raise money for the charity.
Mrs Barnett has been taking part in the event since 2008.
“I initially took part when my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer, thankfully she survived,” she said.
“I discovered that I had the gene for breast cancer so I underwent preventative surgery and, at the Race for Life in 2009, my friends supported me and literally carried me to the finish line.”
Pictured: Participants are given signs for the back of their shirts where they can write the reason why they are taking part.
Upon learning that the event would not be held in Guernsey this year, Mrs Barnett had the idea to hold a fundraiser with her friends.
“I posted on my Facebook page to see if any of my friends would be interested in doing a fundraiser together. I expected that I could maybe get a small group of friends together, but then people started tagging their other friends in my post and there was a lot of positive reaction,” she said.
Mrs Barnett believes the low attendance at the 2019 event could have been related to a change in the race route.
“The race had always previously been held around the area of Sausmarez Park, but the route was changed to L’Ancresse and I remember thinking that there weren’t as many people there as previous years,” she said.
“I created an online poll to see whether people would prefer the event to be at the park or L’Ancresse this year and the result was around 90% in favour of Sausmarez Park.
“The problem with L’Ancresse is that there are hills and rabbit holes and it’s not a flat surface so it was not accessible for people with buggies or in wheelchairs or children with bikes or scooters.”
Pictured: The first Race for Life event was held in 1994 and, since then, nearly £900m has been raised at events nation-wide.
Mrs Barnett said that the spirit of the event was not a competitive race.
“Although it is called Race for Life, and some people may want to set time targets for themselves, it has never been about racing,” she said.
“It is about celebrating life and helping to raise funds for an extremely worthwhile cause. When the crowd is warming up you really feel a sense of overwhelming comfort to be in a group of people who have all been affected in some way by cancer, whether suffering themselves or having friends and family who have suffered.”
Funds raised will be donated to Guernsey Cancer Research.
“I hope that we can make the event this year as big as possible so that, hopefully, Cancer Research UK will organise one here from next year because it has been a huge undertaking for us to do ourselves,” said Mrs Barnett.
Pictured: Dogs will be welcome at the Guernsey Race for Life.
“Debbie Hunter and Kat Gillespie from KGV has been a huge help in organising the warm-up on the playing field and sorting the route to start and finish at the KGV," said Mrs Barnett.
“We are also appreciative of the great support from Claire Tostevin and Maddy Diligent.”
The Race for Life will take place at 10:30 on Sunday 15 May, with participants to arrive from 10:00 for the warm-up activities.
“We are still looking for volunteers for the event to marshal, give out medals, help with parking or other supportive roles,” said Mrs Barnett.
You can register for the event HERE
Further information is available on the event Facebook page HERE
If you are interested in volunteering please contact rfl.gsy@gmail.com
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