Annual Pink Ladies' Tractor Run raises £129k

An annual tractor run where hundreds of women don their best pink outfits has raised £129,000 for a cancer charity.

The Pink Ladies' Tractor Road Run returned to north Suffolk and south Norfolk's roads in July in aid of Cancer Research UK's breast cancer appeal.

The organisers have now revealed the amount raised from this year's run takes them to a total of £1.48m in 22 years - just tens of thousands of pounds off their total goal of £1.5m.

Organiser Annie Chapman said the money had made a "huge difference" over the years.

"It's brilliant, especially when the times are a bit tight," she told BBC Radio Suffolk's Wayne Bavin.

"We didn't really expect a large figure, but those ladies go out there and do it.

"I have to take my hat off to all of the girls that do this run."

This year's run saw 182 women take part in the road run which passed through Thorpe Abbotts, Brockdish, Harleston, Gawdy Hall, Pulham St Mary, Rushall and Langmere Green.

Chapman drives one of the oldest tractors on the run - a 1950 David Brown Cropmaster. She initially started the run when she had been due to retire in 2004.

The money goes toward Cancer Research UK projects including the EMBRACE study that looks at people with breast cancer genes and the Smart Bra where scientists are creating bras that use electric signals to spot tumours.

"All ladies and men, who've had [cancer genes] in their family... they need to get this checked," added Chapman.

"I personally think we are so lucky in this country that we have that facility that people can do that."

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