RUNNERS, walkers and joggers took to Weald Country Park for the annual Race for Life in a bid to raise much needed funds for a cancer charity.
The Cancer Research UK event, held on May 25, was for women and children only and attracted around 2,000 competitors, plus a large crowd of spectators.
Breast cancer survivor Jazz Cooper, of Brentwood, is a regular at Race for Life events.
She told the Gazette: "It was a great day and a real success – there were 21 of us in my group, plus my dog.
"I got up on the stage at the start and told everyone about my story and background.
"It was petrifying and I will never be doing that again.
"I hoped to get my dog up there with me but he wouldn't go up the stairs.
"Once I got up there and saw a sea of people I wished I had listened to my dog.
"I really thought I would be all right with talking to everyone but the experience definitely wasn't fun."
When it came to running with her dog, the 44-year-old mother of two decided he wouldn't be coming again.
"When we were doing the warm up he got really over excited.
"He kept jumping up at me and I had bruises all over my legs," she said.
Mrs Cooper, who was running in her sixth race since overcoming cancer, ran with several of her friends and family, including her two daughters, Katie and Amy, who are aged 13 and 15.
"My daughters did the run with me," she said.
"One of them, Katie, went out with the joggers and finished in less than 40 minutes.
"We had a great day out and afterwards had a picnic to celebrate with my entire group."
Breast cancer survivor Davina Hall, 36, also got involved.
The Hornchurch school teacher said: "It was a fantastic atmosphere, really great fun and everyone was motivated to do their best for such a great cause."
After discovering she carried the faulty breast cancer gene BRCA1, Davina opted to have a double mastectomy last year – a procedure that Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie recently underwent.
"I was more determined than ever to do Race for Life this year," she said.
"I'm here today because of life saving treatment."
Gill Burgess, Race for Life event manager for Brentwood, said: "We are so very grateful to all our participants, supporters and wonderful volunteers who helped make Race for Life in Brentwood such an amazing event."
