THE sea of faces captured for posterity on today's Front Page will stay in our minds for many years.

We can't recall the last time so many people packed on to Worcester's Pitchcroft racecourse in the pursuit of such a vital common cause.

In 1999, 670 runners took part in the first Race for Life and raised an impressive £25,000 for charity.

Last year, the number leapt to around 2,100 - some who'd suffered from cancer, some taking part in memory of loved ones, others simply because they knew they were needed.

Yesterday, 2,874 put their best feet forward. Their involvement means £120,000 going to cancer research.

If that's a measure of Race for Life's growing success, it also augurs well for the future because, as we observed three weeks ago - when entries stood at 1,560 - increased awareness of the disease equals earlier diagnosis and a better chance of survival.

During the build-up to this year's event, we looked at many individual tales of courage involving women who've faced the trauma of diagnosis and the challenge of treatment.

We haven't needed to go out of our way to pay tribute to them because their stories have spoken for themselves.

At the end of last month, Kate Oliver was among them. Her first Race for Life run was last year, five months after she'd finished a course of chemotherapy. Supported by her husband and daughter, she completed the run.

This year, she called for as many people as possible either to join her on her second charity run or to sponsor someone.

"We all know someone who's been affected by cancer," she said at the time. "I think it's great if we can all do our bit and raise money for such a worthwhile cause."

The figures suggest her hopes were met. Everyone who took part should be proud of their efforts. Let's make 2002 even better.