ABOUT 6,000 runners wore yellow ribbons, which have become the symbol in the #FindAlice appeal, when they ran in the Ealing Half Marathon today.

There was another huge community effort in the hunt for missing Hanwell schoolgirl Alice Gross, who attends Brentside High School.

Race director Kelvin Walker said: "We run through an area where she lives and quite close to where her school is, so it's a very poignant day. The whole course was littered with ribbons, it was a very emotional sight.

Race organisers had 6,000 bows of ribbons, created by the community in the last week, and there were few runners that did not display one.

Det Supt Carl Mehta, who is leading the search, said this weekend that support for Alice’s family exceeded anything he had known in 30 years in the force.

The RAF has now been drafted in to help police search for Alice.

Scotland Yard said it would be providing an "aerial analysis" to locate areas that should be searched.

Convicted murderer, 41, Arnis Zalkalns, a Latvian, remains the prime suspect. He was filmed cycling along the Grand Union Canal 15 minutes after Alice was spotted on CCTV on the day ashe disappeared..

Mr Zalkalns went missing from his Ealing home on September and may have returned to his homeland.