CHIPPING Norton School assistant headteacher Ann Ashdown will be running in this year's Race for Life after recovering from cancer.

Ann, 52, took part in last year's event at Heythrop Park just weeks after finishing gruelling cancer treatment.

She and her two daughters Louise, 21, and Hannah, 18, joined 8,500 women taking part in Oxfordshire's Race for Life events.

And a year on they are getting ready to do it again.

Ann, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2006 and underwent chemotherapy, had a full mastectomy and radiotherapy, was given the all clear at her six-month check-up in December.

She said: "Taking part in Race for Life so soon after finishing treatment for breast cancer was a very emotional experience, but I am a determined person and it was so inspiring that my daughters and I have decided to make it an annual event."

Ann, who lives in Witney, said learning she had cancer was "an absolute bombshell".

"I am on my own with the girls and left it to the last moment to tell them what was happening because Hannah was in the middle of studying for her GSCEs. They were devastated, but they soon rallied."

After hearing about the Race for Life from work colleagues, Ann set herself the goal of taking part and was able to do so soon after returning to work in May last year.

"I walked it last year. My youngest, Hannah, had embroidered T shirts for us.

Last year the three women raised £800 and hope to do at least as well this year.

"We want to do our bit and give something back. The treatment is so expensive. One of the chemo drugs I was given cost £1,500 and I had that four times."

She urged women throughout the north Cotswolds to take part in this year's Chipping Norton event at Heythrop Park on Sunday, June 22 at 11am. The women-only event, in which women run, jog or walk 5km, helps raise money for Cancer Research UK.

Every pound raised by Race for Life in Oxfordshire goes directly to research carried out in the county. To enter Race for Life 2008, visit www.raceforlife.org.uk or call 0871 641 2273.

About 9,500 Oxfordshire women will be taking part in Race for Life this summer, aiming to raise £620,000.

Vikki Savery, area event manager for Race for Life, said: "We hope this is an invitation women can't refuse."

The Cotswold Journal is keen to speak to cancer sufferers and survivors taking part in the Chipping Norton Race for Life. Call Tony Donnelly on 01386 444050.