TWO sisters from Selkirk decided to take part in Edinburgh’s Race for Life in aid of their favourite teacher.

Thirteen-year-old Layla Aziz and her older sister Zaynah took it upon themselves to raise money for their pastoral teachers fight with cancer.

After months of training, Zaynah sadly had to pull out before the day but her mum Julie expertly stepped in to complete the race.

Layla and Julie put on their running shoes to raise money for Selkirk High School’s pastoral teacher.

This was the second time Layla took part in Race For Life, this year there was no doubt that she wanted to run for her teacher.

Mrs Susan Crooks has been teaching at Selkirk High School for many years and is currently battling cancer for the second time.

Originally aiming to raise £500 for the cause, they ended up flying past the target to raise £640 towards Cancer Research UK.

Layla ran the 5K and, taking over from injured older sister Zaynah, her mum Julie raced the 10K route.

The Aziz family have been living in Selkirk for over eight years and all four siblings attended the school.

Zaynah Aziz is currently studying Physical Activity and Health at Edinburgh Napier University and was greatly helped through the application process by Mrs Crooks.

And her younger sister, Layla is still attending Selkirk High School where Mrs Crooks is her Pastoral teacher.

Zaynah said: “Mrs Crooks has been the pastoral teacher for all of my siblings, and we all agree that she was one of our favourite teachers.

“When we heard her cancer had returned, my sister and I thought it would be a nice thing to run the race for life.

“Especially for such a wonderful person.”

Statistics show that 1 in 2 people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.

And to combat the disease Cancer Research have been spending over £33 million in Scotland each year.

This has contributed to Scottish cancer death rates falling by over a fifth in the last twenty years.

Zaynah added: “Cancer is happening right now, which is why I decided to take part in a Race for Life 10k to raise money and save lives.

“Sadly, I couldn’t take part on the day, but my wonderful mum took up the challenge and absolutely smashed it.

“Race For Life is something that means a lot to our family so helping to raise as much money as possible towards Cancer Research was amazing.

“Every single pound that was donated will make a difference to Cancer Research UK’s ground-breaking work.

Positive feedback has been flooding in ever since the girls announced their running cause with those donating saying, ‘What a wonderful cause and a lovely thing for you to do’ and ‘well done for raising money for a fabulous charity’.

Thousands of people turned up to race in Holyrood Park in Edinburgh on June 23.

And there is still time to support the cause as the family’s go fund me is still online.

Visit https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/zaynahs-race-for-life-15?fbclid=IwAR38RZt8GV8H7bYqz7AcyADHzjXK9y97DRB2iLjagZQTzyOCrfpO-NnRoC8