What is The Great Drag Race?
The Great Drag Race is a spectacular new annual event that aims to radically increase the public's awareness of prostate cancer. A thousand men of all shapes and sizes will descend on London, where they will each walk or run for 10.2km wearing a wig and a frock in order to drag the issue into the spotlight. That's one long stride for each of the 10,200 men lost to the disease each year.

Why is this necessary?
Prostate cancer kills almost as many men as breast cancer kills women, and yet 70% of us don’t even know what the prostate is. That's a shocking statistic. Men are dying unnecessarily because they are unaware of the symptoms of prostate cancer and because they are not aware of the risk factors involved. Experts agree that this is partly due to a lack of funding and media attention and partly because men are not very good at talking about such delicate matters.

What are we going to do about it?
We have teamed up with social entrepreneurs The X Foundation and the Prostate Cancer Support Federation to address this problem by launching Prostate Cancer Awareness Day on June 19th, 2010 (the day before Father's Day). To mark this special day, we are launching The Great Drag Race and we intend to make an almighty song and dance about it.The Great Drag Race will provide a platform for men to show that they have issues, too, even if they have to dress up as women to talk about them! Through the media attention generated, we will encourage men to carefully assess their risk of developing prostate cancer, and we will do our best to get everybody talking about the subject so that men feel more comfortable bringing it up with their friends, family or doctor.

What's happening on June 19th?
June 19th will be the first ever Prostate Cancer Awareness Day, and to mark this new date in the calendar we are launching The Great Drag Race. This sponsored walk/run will start and finish in London's Greenwich Park, and the entry rules are simple. All participants will be asked to raise money for us via an online sponsorship page, and they will be required to wear flamboyant female clothing for the length of the route. It's that simple. We hope to raise thousands of pounds for the research into prostate cancer, and to set a new world record along the way.

The Great Drag Race is open to men of all ages and abilities. The distance is 10.2km, but we want the support of everyone brave enough to take part, even if they can only manage the final ten yards. To help celebrate our achievements, there will celebrities, guest performances, and a big after-party for all our participants and their friends and families.

What else is going on?
If you would like to organise your own event on June 19th to increase awareness of prostate cancer and to raise much-needed funds, then please get in touch. In future years, we hope that there will be lots of events taking place across the country on Prostate Cancer Awareness Day, which will always take place on the day before Father's Day in the UK.
The X Foundation has also commissioned a feature documentary about this extraordinary event, and the film crew is currently following ten brave men living with prostate cancer as they spend three months training to become drag queens for a special one-off performance to publicise Prostate Cancer Awareness Day and The Great Drag Race. You’ll be able to meet the courageous cast on the X Foundation website from May.

How can I get involved?
If you are interested in taking part in the The Great Drag Race, please send the This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it an email and we'll let you know as soon as the online application form is up.
If you are considering putting on your own event for Prostate Cancer Awareness Day, or helping us out in any way at all, please also contact the This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
The X Foundation are also looking for celebrities and corporate sponsors who would like to be associated with this remarkable event, and hope to hear from you soon.

For more information, or to register your participation in the march, please click here for the X Foundation website.