Cancer Research’s Race for Life raised £52.8m last year making it the highest-earning mass participation event for the third year running, a survey revealed.

Race for Life raised almost double the amount of the event in second place, Macmillan Cancer Support's World's Biggest Coffee Morning. The list was  compiled by events company Massive.

The top 25 together raised £136m - £18m less than last year, when viral fundraising helped to boost the overall income. Last year events attracted 3.5 million participants in the UK.

CRUK and Macmillan Cancer Support accounted for 75 per cent of the income generated in 2015 by the ten biggest fundraisers in Massive’s top-25 list - with just over £80m raised.

Fastest growing campaigns included the baby health charity Tommy’s Splashathon, the Alzheimer’s Society Memory Walk and Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Race for the Kids.

John Tasker, Massive’s strategy director, pointed to a shift from the previous year when viral fundraising took the peer-to-peer market by storm.

He said events such as Dryathlon, Sober October and Movember showed a decline in income, suggesting these “digital social” events had a much shorter lifespan with the best results coming in their early years.

“Away from digital social events, the continued rise of Memory Walk, and the appearance in the Top 25 of Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital Race for the Kids and Tommy’s Splashathon, both more than five years old, demonstrate the profit in a more long-term approach.

“They keep the cause front and centre, activity relevant to their audience and delivers an experience that retains and attracts new participants to build income year-on-year,” he said.

The top 25 are as follows:

1.     Cancer Research UK, Race for Life, £52.8m
2.     Macmillan Cancer Support, World's Biggest Coffee Morning, £27.7m
3.     Walk the Walk, Moonwalk, £6.8m
4.     The Movember Foundation, Movember, £5.2m
5.     Macmillan Cancer Support, Brave the Shave, £4.4m
6.     Cancer Research UK, Shine, £4.3m
7.     Alzheimer's Society, Memory Walk, £3.9m
8.     British Heart Foundation, London to Brighton, £3.8m
9.     Cancer Research UK, Dryathlon, £3.7m
10.     Macmillan Cancer Support, Go Sober for October, £3.3m
11.     Marie Curie, Swimathon, £2.7m
12.     Cancer Research UK, Relay for Life, £2.4m
13.     Breast Cancer Now, Wear it Pink, £1.9m
14.     Royal Marsden Hospital, Marsden March, £1.7m
15.     Macmillan Cancer Support, A Really Good Night In, £1.4m
16.     British Heart Foundation, Wear It Beat It, £1.2m
17.     Action for Children, Byte Night, £1.2m
18.     Breast Cancer Care, Pink Robbonwalk, £1.2m
19.     Macmillan Cancer Support, Longest Day Golf Challenge, £1,1m
20.     Macmillan Cancer Support, Your Walk, £1.1m
21.     Great Ormond Streat Hospital, Race for the Kids, £1m
22.     Jeans for Genes, Jeanns for Genes, £980,000
23.     Tommys, Splashathon, £909,000
24.     Prince's Trust, Palace to Palace, £899,000
25.     British Heart Foundation, Dechox, £704,000