Running for research

ONE of Australia’s leading charity events has taken to Geelong’s waterfront over the weekend to raise money for breast cancer research.

The Mother’s Day Classic was a near sell-out this year with crowds of people gathering at the Eastern Beach Reserve for a mixture of 4km and 8km races.

Mothers swapped the idea of breakfast in bed for a morning spent enjoying some fresh air, physical activity and quality times with friends, families and pets who were all in attendance.

Kicking off at 8am, with a race beginning every half hour until 10.30am, competitors hit the pavement with the racecourse taking them along the Eastern Beach Road to the foreshore and back again.

First beginning in 1998, the Mother’s Day Classic has expanded to incorporate events across 75 communities and had raised $37.95 million towards life-saving research prior to Sunday’s event.

While one in seven women are diagnosed with breast cancer, during the 23 years of the Mother’s Day Classic the five-year survival rate for breast cancer has increased from 84 per cent to 91 per cent.