DEVOTED daughters celebrated the life of their mother at York's Race For Life - just one day after she died of cancer.

Christine Bellerby, 46, Susan Fairley, 53, and Allyson Brett, 41, made the brave decision after their mother, Sylvia Try, died on Saturday.

Sylvia, who lived at Clifton Moor, after originally coming from Dringhouses, had been ill for a time, then died unexpectedly, aged 74, on Saturday morning.

Susan, who lives in the Boroughbridge Road area of York, Allyson, of Upper Poppleton, and Christine, of Clifton Moor, decided to continue with their pledge to take part in the charity run, in honour of their mum.

"We couldn't think of anything else to do," said Christine.

"We just all knew that this would have made mum so proud, so we really wanted to do this for her.

"And this is a lovely way of paying tribute to her, having her remembered like this is a lovely thing for us to be able to do."

Christine, who lived across the road from her mum, was already signed up for the Race For Life as part of the Tesco team, but decided to run the race with her two sisters and nieces, and even an unofficial entry to the all-female event from nephew Andrew, to stay with her family.

She said: "It was really special for all of us to do this. It has helped Allyson's children, Laura and Andrew - who lost their father to cancer eight years ago - to come to terms with it. I am sure it will help us all.

"We are obviously very sad, but we have had a real chance to celebrate our great mum, and it makes me so happy to know how proud she would be."

About 5,000 females - a record number - entered Cancer Research UK's five- kilometre run on York's Knavesmire.

Event spokeswoman Nicky Embleton said: "The Race For Life is always an incredible event. I don't think it can be matched for its fantastic atmosphere and the spirit of fun.

"We had already broken our records for number of entries, but there were even more people here today. It shows an incredible effort by the women of York.

"It has been another incredibly successful day for York, for Cancer Research UK, and for everyone who has taken part.

"It is a great celebration of life."

Updated: 10:47 Monday, May 12, 2003