UNDETERRED by the rain the efforts of thousands of fun runners have given a glimmer of hope to young cancer victims.

It may have been a grey start but as the sun broke through the old and young, professional and amateur, sporty and those openly a little less sporty stood shoulder-to-shoulder for the official start of the 29th Greggs Children’s Cancer Run.

The sounding of the starting hooter marked the beginning of a day of races and festivities aimed at raising more than £200,000 to help North East researchers develop new treatments and cures for young cancer sufferers.

With the first runners completing the five-mile run and thousands more getting ready for the off, Gosforth Park Racecourse in Newcastle was awash yesterday with a sea of excited groups of children and their families all hoping to raise as much money as possible for the North of England Children’s Cancer Research.

Among them was Carol Spears, 40, who was joined by her six-year-old daughter Abbigail, Abbigail’s father and two grandmothers. They were dressed to impress in neon pink tutus with sparkly devil horn headbands.

They were joining scores of Abbigail’s classmates from St Anne’s Primary School in Harlow Green, Gateshead. Carol said: “This is the first year we have all done it and we wanted to run the course as a family. In the run-up to the day we were really looking forward to it.

“We’ve taken part in other charity runs in recent years and with this being for such a great cause we wanted to get involved.”

The sound of drummers and music provided a backing track to the day and added to the carnival atmosphere along with the bright costumes donned by some. All abilities and ages took part with one runner being led round the course by her dog dressed up for the day as a fairy.