Londoners may have thought they had gone bananas last Friday when a six-foot yellow fruit ran 5km around Hyde Park chased by 100 runners.
But this was the second annual Beat the Banana! race in aid of the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) UK, and the culmination of the Fruity Friday event.
A series of activities throughout Fruity Friday aimed to increase public awareness about the links between a healthy diet and a reduced risk of cancer, and the WCRF are hoping to raise £100,000 for cancer research and education programmes.
Fruity Friday was part of Cancer Prevention Week, which ran from May 22- 28.
Every participant in the Beat the Banana! race received a medal and a pack that included a booklet of healthy recipe ideas, a sample of cherry tomato seeds and a Jazz apple. Trophies were awarded to the first three male and female competitors who beat the banana across the finish line.
“Fruity Friday is about making people aware of the benefits of a healthy diet and physical exercise, and raising money for the World Cancer Research Fund,” said Paul Fretwell, corporate partnerships manager for WCRF UK. “The day has been a great success, with Beat the Banana! races in London and Bristol, and fundraising activities in schools and workplaces across the country.”
Fruity Friday started early in the morning, with volunteers handing out 1,000 free punnets of British Jubilee strawberries at four central London Tube stations during the commuter rush hour.
The event was supported by Jazz Apples and British Summer Fruits.
Katherine Clarke, a spokeswoman for British Summer Fruits, said: “Strawberries are an everyday super food, packed with anti-oxidants and with quercitin to tackle hay fever and zinc to boost your sex drive.
“Fruity Friday aims to show the public how easy it can be to pick up a piece of fruit as breakfast on the go or as a low-fat snack. The 5 A DAY message is so important, and it could help save lives.”
More than 250,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with cancer each year, while as many as 160,000 will die from the disease, according to the WCRF.
One in three people will be affected by some form of cancer in their lifetime.
But research has shown that making healthy diet and lifestyle choices could prevent up to 100,000 cases of cancer in the UK each year.
Few people realise that 30 to 40 per cent of cancers, including many cases of bowel, breast and stomach cancer, could be prevented with a healthy diet and regular exercise, according to the WCRF.
