A SEA of pink adorned the promenade between Bournemouth and Boscombe yesterday as thousands of women took part in this year’s Race for Life event.

The three races at Bournemouth seafront saw around 6,000 women, children and even some pets pound the sandy promenade to raise money for Cancer Research.

Participants dressed in vivid pink outfits or fancy dress costumes took part in one of two 5km runs between the piers with more enthusiastic fitness fanatics lining up for the 10km run earlier in the day.

Mum Nikki Hastings, who is battling terminal cancer, took part in the 5km morning race alongside her daughters Leah and Megan as well as her mum and other members of her family including her sister and niece.

She said: “It’s a very emotional day not just for me and my family but for everyone here.

“I’m very proud of Leah as she’s raised such a fantastic amount of money.”

Nikki's writing a journal about her experiences for the Echo. Read it here

And it was the younger generation who claimed the glory yesterday with youngster Victoria Morris sprinting over the finish line for the 2.30pm race in just 23 minutes and 55 seconds beating the time of 21minutes and nine seconds from the winner of the earlier race.

Also taking part yesterday morning was Tesco employee Nicole Radford, a Bournemouth Race for Life veteran.

Nicole, 47, who was running with a group of colleagues, has taken part in every race at Bournemouth since it started in 1998, having beaten breast cancer twice and having had a double mastectomy.

She said: “This is a cause so close to my heart. Six people in my family have had cancer and we need to do all we can to beat this disease.

“It’s a wonderful event and great to be a part of it.”

Organisers are hoping to pull in more than £500,000 through sponsorship this year at the Bournemouth event with hopes to raise around £60million nationwide.

Entries for next year’s event can be registered at raceforlife.org