Cancer Research UK has confirmed it's familiar Race for Life has been forced into a name change for next year, after a court upheld a Trading Standards complaint.
Mold Masgistrates court in North Wales ruled that because 'life' could not be awarded to either the winner of any of the runners taking part in any events held across the country, to brand the fund-raising exercise as a Race for Life was misleading.
"Needless to say we're disappointed" Martyn Scrivener from Cancer Research told reporters. "Race for Life is a familiar brand in the country's consciousness and to have to change it's name now, could lead to problems in finding participants for next year and those races yet to be held."
The complaint was lodged by Gwynedd Trading Standards officers after numerous complaints, all alleging that the event's title implied winners would be granted life and those runners who were terminally ill would be miraculously cured if they took part.
"It may seem like a trivial case but misleading branding is one of the major campaigns being run Trading Standards across the UK." Theresa Tufnell from Gwynedd Council said.
"A 'race' implies competition and the use of the word 'life' implies that the ability to stay alive is the prize for entrants. Quite obviously this isn't the case in either instance and we're glad the court has agreed with us."
Mr Scrivener confirmed that alternative names are already being drawn up and the 2011 events will be the last under the current title.
"We're currently exploring new naming conventions, but the front-runner is 'Non-competitive amble to raise money which may or may not eventually lead to a potential cure for some types of cancer'. It's not exactly snappy and will cost us a small fortune to re-brand everything we all ready had in place for next year, but at least it's legally safe.".
