THANK you for helping us save lives – that’s the message from Cancer Research UK this Christmas after women from Oxfordshire raised a whopping £363,120 in this summer’s Race for Life.

Six-thousand women took part in three Race for Life events at Oxford’s University Parks during Saturday, June 5, and Sunday, June 6, and at Broughton Castle in Banbury on July 25.

Grandmothers, mothers and daughters of all ages – many of whom had beaten cancer or were still being treated – turned out to walk and raise as much money in sponsorship as they could.

Now all that money is being ploughed into research, including here in Oxfordshire, to help even more people beat cancer.

Among the runners this year were 34 pioneering cancer scientists from the Cancer Research UK Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology at the University of Oxford.

The team of scientists, researchers and support staff are at the frontline of cancer research, but stepped out from behind their microscopes and faced a different challenge – five kilometres around University Parks.

Ruth Muschel, Professor of Molecular Pathology at the Gray Institute, said: “I’d like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the 6,000 women who took part in Race for Life in Oxford and helped raise so much money for vital research.

“I took part and was moved by the amazing atmosphere on the day.

“Thanks to everyone who took part, and all their supporters, Cancer Research UK is able to fund research to help beat cancer by understanding its causes and investigating how best to prevent, diagnose and treat it.”

The Gray Institute, in Roosevelt Drive, conducts groundbreaking research into making radiotherapy and chemotherapy more effective in killing tumours.

About four in 10 cancer sufferers undergo radiotherapy, making it key to many people’s survival.

Among its recent discoveries, the institute revealed that oxygen could be used to weaken cancer cells before radiotherapy takes place – greatly increasing its effectiveness in killing tumours.

Scientists are now using this, and other findings from the institute, to develop drugs that can be used to help cancer sufferers the world over.

Last year, Cancer Research UK spent nearly £10m on research at the Gray Institute, which was part of almost £32m spent in Oxford on some of the UK’s leading scientific and clinical research. A big chunk of that money came from Race for Life.

Prof Muschel is now encouraging more people to sign up for Race for Life in 2011.

She said: “I’m looking forward to Race for Life 2011 in Oxford and I hope to see thousands of local people there.”

Anne Kiltie, an honorary consultant clinical oncologist and clinical group leader at the institute, agreed.

She said: “There is always a fun atmosphere and the support from friends, family and volunteers is great encouragement for the women and girls taking part.

“As a Cancer Research UK-funded clinician scientist, it is always very moving to read the dedications on the signs that other women are wearing on their backs.

“They help to remind us of the serious underlying reason for all the fundraising.”

Places on the 2011 Race for Life can be reserved now by buying a pre-pay voucher at raceforlife.org and all events are open for entry from Monday, January 17, 2011.