A sea of pink as 1645 women head off on Launceston's five-kilometre walk-run. Picture: WILL SWAN
Launceston's five-kilometre walk-run attracted 1645 women to the city's streets yesterday, and organisers say it has come of age as an annual event.
The Launceston Women's 5-kilometre Footrace is expected to raise about $20,000 for Cancer Council Tasmania.
Event director Rob Gillard said the event was a fun day, but also had a competitive side - with Launceston's Kate Pedley running a scorching time of 17 minutes, seven seconds to win the event.
Claire Ashworth was second with a time of 17:52 and Victorian Susanne Wilson was third in 19:33. The under-16 winner was Arabella Phillips, 12, of Launceston, in 20:50.
Mr Gillard said the winning time was particularly good as the course had some rises that made it tough going.
The race started and finished in City Park, winding through closed-off city centre streets.
Mr Gillard said the main aims of the day were to increase awareness of breast cancer and raise money for cancer research, and let women have fun.
''We had groups of mums, daughters and grandmothers - three generations,'' Mr Gillard said.
''They were chatting before and had coffee after - a real social event.''
He said some participants pushed babies in prams around the course, the youngest registered walker was aged five and the oldest was 78.
Mr Gillard said the event, now in its fifth year, had come of age on Launceston's entertainment calendar - with many women marking the first Sunday in March as ``run day''.
The majority of competitors are repeat entrants. About 2500 women are expected at next year's event.
