50,000 people flock to Cambridge as half marathon set to raise £2m
Organisers said almost half of this year's runners were women
Around 50,000 people attended this year's Cambridge Half Marathon, organisers have said.
That included 15,000 runners, with nearly half of them being women.
"We were expecting about 50,000 spectators on course, and hopefully this year, we'll raise £2 million for local charities," Iain Hamilton, race director, said.
"The other thing we're proud of is we're at 49% women and 51% men; it would've been lovely to be 50-50 but that's something we will work on and hopefully next year, we can get that right."
One of those to try the course was Cole Stokes, who dressed in almost a full suit of medieval armour for baby loss counselling charity Petals.
This year marked Cole's first Cambridge Half Marathon, and his first 13.1-mile run in general.
"My target was only £350 and we've raised (at least) £1,020, so people out there have seen what I'm doing and definitely willing to part with their hard-earned cash and I'm very grateful," he said.
"I run three times a week and doing this as a challenge is better; maybe others will do a similar thing, I don't know."
Iain - who's been involved in the event for more than three decades - helped resurrect the half marathon in 2012 when there were "around 2,000 runners and we did two little laps".
He's seen the growth of the event since then, and believes much of that is down to backing.
"Very simply, it's supported locally and a lot of the charities are locally based," Iain added.
"There are lots of runners, spectators, kids here and it's a big family festival type feeling."