A bevy of celebrities from the showbiz industry, including actress Lisa Haydon, Tara Sharma and VJ Anusha Dandekar, put on their running shoes here to be a part of Pinkathon 2012, a race to create awareness for breast cancer.

Actress Karisma Kapoor flagged off the race Sunday.

"My mom is a cancer survivor. Her cancer was detected at a very early stage and she survived the disease. I had to be a part of this race, " Anusha said.

Pinkathon 2012 has been organised for the first time in Mumbai. It was divided into three categories - 10-km race, 5-km race and 3-km race.

The 10-km run saw 50 female police personnel from Mumbai as well as school-children taking part in it. Others running for the cause were 650 members from Brahamkumaris NGO and a group of nine tribal women from Vajreshwari, a town near Mumbai.

"I am so happy that so many people have turned up this early in the morning and so many support this cause, " said Karisma.

Actor Milind Soman, who organised the race, thanked people for showing their support and hoped that such initiatives continue to spread awareness about such causes.

"We are immensely proud to have garnered such widespread support from different quarters and thank each participant for playing an important part. We trust that this will help women realise that they need to be constantly aware and spread the word around, " said Milind.

"I would also like to personally thank all my friends from the film fraternity, including Karisma Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Soha Ali Khan, Dia Mirza, Shahana Goswami, Kunal Kapoor and Rahul Bose, without whom the event wouldn't have tasted such success, " he added.

Actress Bipasha Basu was not able to make it for the race, but sent her message across, which was read out by Milind.

"Cancer is a word, not a sentence. Don't let this disease define who you are as a person. There are countless women who brave breast cancer everyday. The strength they hold is an inspiration to all, " Bipasha said in the message.

"Initiatives like the Pinkathon urge everyone to become more aware about the reality which most people like to shy away from. But there is no shying away from the truth, " she added.