Up to 70,000 people are expected to walk or run in the 2009 Mother’s Day Classic, a fundraiser for breast cancer research organised by Women in Super, at events held across the country on Sunday.

Mother’s Day Classic, the biggest community fundraising event for breast cancer research in Australia, has raised $4.4 million since it began in 1998 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, a non-profit organisation supporting research into the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.

The event is driven by the knowledge that research into breast cancer is gradually improving the survival rate of the one in nine women who will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime.

Participants in the event choose to either walk four kilometres or run eight kilometres, and raise money from donors for their efforts.

UniSuper will give a prize of $1,000 to the largest team from a tertiary education institution.

The event will take place in Sydney, Parramatta, Melbourne, Geelong, Canberra, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart and in regional areas.

The major sponsor of the Mother’s Day Classic is Members Equity Bank.