X-FACTOR winner Alexandra Burke launched the Race for Life as more than 14,000 runners dressed in pink set out to run through Glasgow.

The 5k race is the biggest of the string of events organised across the UK by Cancer Research.

It was opened by Ben Magee, seven, who has recovered from leukaemia. His mother Fiona, 47, from Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, recruited 30 friends to run the race.

Race for Life has raised £526 million since it began in 1994.

Picture: Mark Gibson