They were running to raise money for research into breast cancer and to raise awareness of the disease after one of them fell victim to the illness.
Alla Langford, originally from Moscow and now conference and reservations manager at the Holiday Inn Leeds Brighouse, was the driving force behind the team. She encouraged the others to take part in the 5km Race for Life after her colleague, Eileen Moulson, received treatment for breast cancer.
Alla and Eileen lined up with Becky Collick, Lauren Iredale, Olga Chaplinskaya, Annette Sharphouse, Donna Rodwell and 2,500 other women to take part in the event.
"It was very emotional for all of us, to see women who had survived breast cancer themselves taking part as well as women running for people they had lost to cancer," said 33-year-old Alla, formerly Gorchcova.
"Eileen has been so brave and has inspired us all. We are like one big family at work – we all support each other."
Eileen, aged 60, who works with Alla in the conference and reservations department, said: "I walked round the course with Becky on the day. There was a brilliant atmosphere and it really makes you feel that you're doing something positive to fight breast cancer. I've had treatment and now have to wait for two years to get the all-clear but I feel fine."
For Alla, who has lived and worked in England for nine years, the Race for Life was a real eye-opener. "I don't think we have anything like this in Russia.
"It was a great experience and I'll definitely be suggesting that we do it again next year. Everyone had made such an effort to be there.
"We are so pleased and proud that we raised £700 which will go towards Cancer Research. Eileen has been so brave and she inspired us all."
Alla started her hotel career at the Intercontinental near Red Square in the heart of Moscow. Encouraged by her mum, she learned to speak English at a language academy in her home city and soon improved her language skills working in a hotel.
"There was a very cosmopolitan atmosphere with lots of tourists and business people passing through. Russia and Moscow, in particular, have been through many changes in recent years and every time I go back to visit friends I notice something different – but I would say
that most of the changes are for the better."
After moving to England, Alla worked first at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Leeds and, four years ago, got the chance to apply for a promotion at the Holiday Inn at Clifton.
"At first I got homesick for Moscow but not any more. My English is so much better now than when I arrived and I think English people are very kind and caring. They are very proud of their country and all they have here."
Having lived in Moscow and now Leeds and having visited nearly all the European capitals, Alla is a city girl through-and-through. In her spare time, she loves jogging and swimming and is mad about travel. Hardened as she is to the severity of a Moscow winter and the sweltering temperatures of a Russian summer, she is amused by the English obsession with the weather.
"It made me laugh earlier in the year when we had a bit of snow round here and everyone was panicking about getting home. In Moscow it can get down to minus 35 in the winter and, at the other end of the scale, rise to 35 degrees in the summer. We are used to extremes of temperature."
Alla has no plans to return permanently to Russia but doesn't rule it out for some time in the future. "I still have a flat in the centre of Moscow but, for the moment at least, England is my home."

Race for Life fact file

• Some 6,000 women took part in Cancer Research UK's Race for Life which was held over two days in Hudders-field. It is hoped that £330,000 will have been raised.


• The charity's Race for Life is the largest women-only fundraising event in the UK. Since 1994, women of all ages and fitness levels across the UK have come together at these inspiring events.


• All the money raised in sponsorship goes towards the charity's vital work which inc-ludes funding the work of 4,500 scientists, doctors and nurses who are dedicated to help more people beat cancer.


• Race for Life events take place between May and July and are open to women across the UK who can jog, walk or run the 5km course. It is expected that 680,000 women will take part in 2009, raising £62.5 million.