Two thousand Oxfordshire ladies looked pretty in pink at the county's final Race for Life event today.

Mums, grans, aunts and daughters turned out in force for the 5km run at Heythrop Park, near Chipping Norton, in aid of Cancer Research UK.

Many runners displayed pictures of loved ones they had lost to the disease, while other cancer survivors joined family members at the event.

Ann Ashdown, 53, has been given the all-clear after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2006.

The Chipping Norton Secondary School teacher, who underwent chemotherapy and had a mastectomy during her treatment, joined daughters Louise, 21, and Hannah, 18, at the race.

She said: "It was a shock when I was first diagnosed - and then the usual 'why me'?

"But then you just get on with it and I decided I was going to try and beat it.

"Events like this are really special.

"We were so moved by it last year that we decided to make it an annual event.

"We want to do our best to strike back at this disease and hopefully beat it."

Several new mothers carried their children with them on the fun run.

Sisters Kristy Simmons and Sheryl Tyrrell from Banbury also competed in the event as a warm-up to a half marathon they plan to run.

Kristy, 30, from Winter Gardens Way, said: "The event was brilliant. It has been really emotional - I was holding back the tears, really."

Jackie Bellwood, from Hoyle Close, Witney, took her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Harriet to the event.

She said: "This was Harriet's first time at Race for Life. She loved getting dressed up in pink and was quite excited this morning.

Amy Hancock, 16, from Hailey Avenue, Chipping Norton, ran in memory of her nan, who died of cancer 11 years ago.

She said: "It's good to make people more aware of cancer.

"The atmosphere was really good. It did get really emotional."

Cancer Research UK hoped to raise £100,000 through sponsorship from yesterday's event alone.

This was the fourth and final event in Oxfordshire this summer.

Earlier this month, three races were held in University Parks with money raised going to scientists and doctors working to find new treatments at the Churchill and John Radcliffe Hospitals in Headington.

Cancer Research UK has set itself a target of making £50m from its 280 Race for Life events across the country this year.