10,000 people rally in Lille’s fight against breast cancer

Lille’s favourite playground for runners, the Citadel drew a sea of people for the 11th edition of the Challenge Ruban Rose on Sunday, October 5. Women, men and children all ran or walked for a cause that matters: fighting breast cancer.

After winter’s snowy white and the multicoloured Foire aux manèges, pink took over. Lille’s Citadel was transformed from top to bottom. For one morning, the green lung of France’s northern capital offered a breath of fresh air. Finding your way through the crowd was no easy task, with more participants than ever. Ten thousand hearts beat to the rhythm of their footsteps: some scarred by illness, others standing alongside a loved one affected by breast cancer, and many determined to support screening and medical research.

Live in the moment. Understand how precious time with loved ones can be. Fanny has known that since going into remission. Accompanied by her daughter Camille Céline, Ketty and Tom, she was hit hard by breast cancer in 2022 and is urging people to strip the disease of its mystery. “You shouldn’t be afraid to get screenedI took part in a study with the Oscar Lambret Centre (a Lille cancer treatment centre that received €45,000 in support, ed.)

Running with others in mind. Vincent, who works for Pas-de-Calais Habitat, has two colleagues currently battling the disease. “We want to do our bitaid stations at the Paris Marathon going cup- and bottle-free, a world first in running, Mylène Molitor, a fraud prevention inspector, has travelled from Paris with her partner Thibault… and their two golden retrievers, Ollie and Topie, aged seven and three, who are more than happy to be cuddled. “I only get involved for good causes

He was one of the few people not wearing pink. For good reason: Sébastien Legros had pulled on a blue volunteer’s T-shirt. Volunteering is a role he first took on nearly a decade ago, at Euro 2016. He arrived at 7 a.m. on Sunday, but had been working behind the scenes since Thursday. Alongside 20 colleagues, the telecoms consultant sorted and handed out race numbers and directed passers-by. “Careful, it’s slippery!When you’re young, you don’t see the point of volunteering. The atmosphere is different. There’s no stressMarchiennesMy son should beat me

“More and more young women are being affected”

He did not run, but it felt like he had. Maxime Sans, a medical imaging specialist at the Oscar Lambret Centre, believes the event helps to “ remind people how important prevention is

Behind the wave of enthusiasm lies a much darker reality. “More and more young women are being affected, due to environmental and genetic factors

Paul-Olivier Pluquet swapped his role as a writer, performer and composer for that of race announcer. His 10-year-old son joined the festivities on Sunday, but he still made sure to remind the crowd of a frightening statistic: one French woman dies of breast cancer every hour. Proof that the fight is far from over.

Fanny’s story is a reminder of just how precious life is. Every day, thousands of women across France fight for their survival. For more than two hours, wave after wave of hundreds of participants poured through the Citadel to stand against the deadliest cancer affecting women.

À l’image de l’histoire de Fanny qui nous rappelle ô combien la vie est précieuse, des milliers de femmes se battent pour leur survie chaque jour en France. Pendant plus de deux heures, des vagues de centaines de participants ont déferlé pour lutter contre le cancer le plus meurtrier chez les femmes.