Organisers at Cancer Research UK are concerned that not all participants who recently walked, jogged or raced the 5km course have returned their sponsor money.

Although they are just over the halfway mark in meeting the £300,000 target set for Ferry Meadows, they still have £130,000 outstanding.

So they are appealing to those whose fund-raising feats have not yet materialised to make a special effort to ensure that the goal can be achieved.

Nationally, a third of the women who took part in the Race for Life series last year failed to raise funds for Cancer Research UK.

Peterborough Race for Life hopes to break previous targets for 2008 and is keen to stress that every penny counts when it comes to finding new ways to prevent, treat and diagnose cancer – a disease that will affect one in three people in the UK at some stage in their lives.

Cancer Research UK Race for Life organiser Heidi Connell said this year's event at Ferry Meadows on June 24 and 25 was a huge success with 4,500 women taking part in total.

However, she added: "Research into cancer is hugely expensive because of the cutting-edge technologies involved.

"If we are to help more families to stay together for longer, we need to raise as much money as possible to fund our pioneering research.

"Regrettably, it's not unusual for all kinds of charity events to suffer from a minority of participants failing to raise funds.

"Yet, clearly, if one in three women don't send back their sponsorship money after experiencing the unique and inspiring atmosphere of Race for Life, our ability to support more world-class science is affected."

The good news is that it's not too late for participants in the women-only event to begin collecting sponsor money – if they haven't already – and return it.

Heidi added: "Women who got people to sign their sponsor forms should show off their medal with pride and chase those who pledged some cash.

"Those who perhaps didn't get around to asking for sponsorship from friends and family before their event can do so retrospectively now, or simply make a donation."

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