Tesco supports Race for Life recruitment

Written by Isabel Griffith

Tesco has launched a charity campaigning initiative which hopes to involve one million women in the 2011 Cancer Research UK Race for Life.

Backed by celebrities Fay Ripley and Mark Addy, as well as athlete Paula Radcliffe, the scheme takes the form of a national TV advertising campaign backed by digital and print campaigns.

The initiative encourages women and girls to walk, jog or run 5km in order to raise money for Cancer Research UK, and the advert will premiere on February 21st.

Lucy Neville-Rolfe, executive director of corporate and legal affairs at Tesco, said: "This year, by working in partnership with Cancer Research UK, we're aiming to reach more women than ever before. We hope the advert will help us to recruit a million women and raise £80 million."

She added that 5.4 million women have taken part in the charity run since it was first launched in the UK in 1994, raising a grand total of £362 million to fund 4,000 researchers.

The charity campaigning venture will be backed up on the organisation's website, as well as via social networking websites such as Facebook.