The Race for Life is a mark of enormous respect and love for the 150,000 men and women each year who die of cancer but as the name suggests, it is also a celebration of life.

It was fitting Sunday's leg of the race should have been won by a 14-year-old girl called Sunday.

Sunday Boston, of Westdene, beat a field of some 4,000 women in the 5km run round Stanmer Park.

Sunday, who runs for Phoenix Athletics Club, said: "It was brilliant. I feel really brilliant now.

"I was running to raise money for all the people I know who are affected by cancer."

The Race for Life attracted a field of around 8,000 runners over two days, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for Cancer Research UK.

Gemma Sharp, 23, of Preston Park, won the race for a second time when she crossed the line first on Saturday.

She said: "I used to do marathons but not any more. It's too far."

Lizzie Durman, 22, of Leopold Lodge, Brighton, came in a close second as lead member of the HP Sauce team.

She said: "It was really fun. I was running for my auntie who died when I was really young but she meant a lot to me."

Stanmer Park was thronged with women all wearing their race number and the name of the person they were running for, mostly in memory of family or friends who had suffered from cancer.

Race For Life, the UK's biggest women-only fund-raising event, was introduced more than a decade ago and every year it has grown.

This was the first year it has been run over two days, a solution to the enormous popularity of an event which was beginning to out-grow itself. Even in its new format the race was closed to entries long before the date.

The weather was ideal for running on Saturday - cool, cloudy and, most importantly, dry.

Yesterday the sun came out and the runners felt the heat.

The course was a double lap around part of the park with a gruelling hill climb near the end.

Sally Gunnell, who recently had a baby and lives in Steyning, gave a pep talk at the start of the race before heading off to take part.

She said: "This is the third year I've done it and it's great.

"To see 4,000 people running round and reading all the names on their backs of loved ones affected by cancer is really emotional but the atmosphere is brilliant too."

The Irresistibles, an exercise class group from Mark Cross, near Crowborough, were talked into Race For Life by class member Liz King.

She was also celebrating her 50th birthday and last week walked 28 miles on the Ribbon Walk for breast cancer.

She said: "There is one lady from our exercise class who is being treated for cancer at the moment and we've all got our own reasons as well."

Eleven-year-old Harriet Flude ran with mum Amanda while little sister Maddie, eight, joined the walkers at the back.

Harriet, of Braemore Road, said: "I was running for my gran and grandpa. I did quite a lot of training to begin with, then I sort of forgot. It was quite hard today because it was hot."

Charley Robertson, 25, Gemma Wilson, 23, and Heather Leary, 22, all from Chichester, all ran the race for the first time.

Charley, of Cambrai Avenue, said: "We will probably start off running, then jog, then power walk and then probably collapse."

Heather, of Yapton Lane, said: "I'm running for my friend who died of cancer about four years ago."

Martha Buckley and Amanda Harding, former reporters on The Argus, ran together.

Martha, of Brighton, said: "I thought it would be a bit of a challenge and it's a good cause.

"My aunt has breast cancer. She's got four kids and she is quite ill now."

Twins Sally and Julie Hamer, 49, of South Ash, Steyning, were running with a group of 22 from Sally's work, Applied Materials, in Horsham, who had raised £3,000 between them.

Sally said: "We're running for our father who died of cancer a few years ago. It's a nice way of making people aware and it's a fun way of doing it."

Julie said: "We do exercise classes but don't really run. We are hoping to power walk it."

An under-13s football team from Lewes entered the race, including Hannah Jackson and Cathy Pilbeam, who ran in multi-coloured Hawaiian skirts and flower garlands.

Hannah, 12, of Bishop's Drive, said: "We decided the whole football team should do it.

"My mum decided we should wear the Hawaiian skirts in a moment of madness."

Mum Trudy said: "It's Hannah's 13th birthday soon and we've got all the kit for the Hawaiian theme party so I thought they might as well wear it today."

The Ringmer Rovers all have children at Ringmer Primary and were rounded up by Allison Saunders to take part.

She said: "We all know people who have had cancer or have it and I've been wanting to do this for a few years now."

Mary Butcher, 32, of Browns Lane, Uckfield, helped her husband recover from leukaemia six years ago.

She ran dressed as a baby in a bonnet with her friend Claire Handford, 28, of Condor Way, Burgess Hill. Between them they have raised more than £400.

Mum and daughter Jean Lambert, 69, and Sarah Price, 43, ran together on Saturday.

Sarah, of Parklands Road, Hassocks, said: "I'm a chemotherapy nurse so I thought as well as poisoning cancer patients I could help raise money for research.

"I'm also an exercise teacher and a lot of my clients are recovering from cancer treatment."

Elena Katsandreas, 26, of Hanover, Brighton, and Wendy Tunnicliffe, 36, of Bevendean, Brighton, ran in pink fluffy bunny ears.

Wendy said: "I work in a hairdresser's and so many people come in saying they have relatives and friends with cancer I wanted to do something about it."

Elena said: "We've got a thing about bunny ears."

Karen Jenkins, 40, and Kara Benford, 15, ran together on Sunday for Karen's father-in-law.

Karen said: "It was brilliant. It was hard when the sun came out because it was really hot but it was great fun."

Brighton and Hove hockey club raised more than £600 and ran round in team colours See The Argus tomorrow for pictures and a full list of runners.