THANK you to everybody who took part in the Race for Life.

Thank you, also, to everybody who offered sponsorship, everybody who helped a participant through their training and everybody who simply helped to line the route and cheer people on.

All have done their bit to progress the fight against cancer.

The Race for Life is among the most poignant and inspiring events of its kind. As ever, a multitude of women took park, and each of those women has her own story.

Some have nursed a friend or loved one through the disease from diagnosis to getting the all-clear, while others have been a rock to somebody for whom the cancer journey did not have a happy ending.

Others took part to mark their own battle against the disease, their refusal to back down and their iron determination to ensure fewer and fewer people are obliged to endure a similar experience.

As everybody knows, cancer is so complex that developing new and more effective treatments will never be easy.

Just because something is not easy, however, that does not mean it is impossible. Barely a month goes by without some new development. All the indications are that there will come a day when cancer is an entirely curable condition.

The length of the period between now and that wonderful day depends on many factors, but one of them is people like our Race for Life participants fighting the good fight.