Tesco plans to increase its support for charity event Race for Life, with it being renamed Tesco and Cancer Research UK's Race for Life from next year.

The retailer will work with Cancer Research UK, with the aim of trying to encourage one million ­participants to walk, jog or run 5k next year.

As part of the recruitment drive, Tesco will fund a national advertising campaign as well as promotion through Clubcard, Tesco.com, ATMs and Tesco Magazine, in-store point-of-sale and live sign-up. The retailer is also hoping that more than 20,000 of its staff will participate.

"As a proud partner of Race for Life we are honoured to pledge increased commitment for 2011. We will reach more women than ever before not just thousands of Tesco employees but our customers too," said Tesco head of CSR Josh Hardie.