Be Excellent To Each Other

No.

Next question.

Sexism is an oppressive system. You cannot have oppression without power.

Men are not oppressed for not being able to run the Race for Life.

Race for Life has many male supporters, who volunteer their time to help out on the day. We also encourage men to come along to support the women who are taking part and are continuing to improve facilities to make Race for Life event days enjoyable for men and also to ensure it is a family-friendly event.

We regularly review our events to make them the best they can be. Four years ago, we seriously investigated the possibility of including men in Race for Life. However, our research shows that a significant number of our Race for Life supporters would strongly prefer to keep it a female-only event as it is a unique opportunity for women to come together in a non-competitive environment within an atmosphere of ‘sisterhood’.

We also undertook a commercial assessment of the event to look at the implications and potential uplift of including men. Results showed that the strength and success of Race for Life is dependent on its appeal to women and we would risk losing a significant amount of income for the charity’s lifesaving work if we changed it.

We have trialled 5k events for men in the past. Run for Moore in aid of the Bobby Moore Fund was a 5k series of events for men which in 2009 we took the difficult decision to cancel. Unfortunately there was insufficient interest from men to take part and to return their sponsorship money, making it difficult to justify investing in it any further.

We do not take the decision to cancel event series lightly, but decisions have to be primarily based on generating as much funds as possible so that we can continue to support our life-saving research. We have been working towards getting more men involved in fundraising for several years and are continuing to do so.

Our research indicates that most men prefer to take part in more challenging events and that 5k events were not challenging enough. With this in mind our Shine events, which are open to both men and women, offer supporters the chance to walk either a full or half marathon. We feel that these events provide our male supporters with a challenge they can strive towards .

We always encourage and actively support fundraisers who wish to organise their own event in aid of Cancer Research UK. Some of our male supporters have organised their own 5k running events such as Run for Men and the World Cup Men’s Run in aid of fundraising for Cancer Research UK. We are currently looking at how we can provide our supporters with the tools to create their own events.

Participants in Race for Life often enter in memory or support of both men and women, displaying their dedications on their back sign. The money raised from Race for Life events goes towards our life-saving work across all kinds of cancer, which affect both men and women. We are committed to beating cancer, regardless of the gender of the person affected. The majority of the research we carry out is into cancers that affect both sexes, but we also fund a range of ground breaking research into gender specific cancers, such as ovarian and prostate.

Our pioneering work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has saved millions of lives, and our doctors and scientists have contributed to 19 of the top 20 cancer drugs used to treat patients (men, women and children) today.OC

Fair enough..

How does that differ from clubs that don't or did not allow women. Such as cricket clubs? (Honest question?)

Are they really any places left still doing that? I thought even the worst of the London members clubs all let women in albeit not without a man accompany them in many cases?

Are they really any places left still doing that? I thought even the worst of the London members clubs all let women in albeit not without a man accompany them in many cases?

Well, I do pilot the millennial falcon.

Whether they're sexist or not, I do feel like that they could do more to raise money in this way, perhaps offer men-only events (or mixed ones) alongside their women-only events, either on the same day or on completely different days if their research shows that their target audience for the main races would not appreciate it.

See asfish's post. There's no appetite for it. Men prefer to do longer races like half/marathons.

So why not put on longer events?

Like the Shine

Run for Men and Men's Run World Cup events

Equally, it's a women's event for a (primarily) women's illness. Men's events are typically for men's illnesses.

Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life is a series of women-only events raising money for research into all 200 types of cancer

Equally, it's a women's event for a (primarily) women's illness. Men's events are typically for men's illnesses. It leaves little room for those wishing to show support for a loved one of the opposite gender.