Running For Their Lives: The 210km Race To Beat Childhood Cancer

They ran the length of Lebanon for love: eight friends, five days, 210 kilometers—and well over USD $50,000 raised to help a child defeat cancer.

They pushed themselves along the equivalent of one full marathon a day, and yesterday crossed the finish line to the cheers of waiting family and friends. Begun on May 7, the “De-feet Cancer Run” saw eight professional runners fulfill their pledge of running the entire Lebanese coast to raise funds for the Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon. More exactly, their goal was to raise enough money–USD $50,000–to cover the cost of one child’s cancer treatment.

The runners–Jihad Achkar, Khodor Badran, Rabih Farsoun, Georges El Hoyek, Imad Ladkani, Ali Kedami, Mark Jibran and Mohammad Marhamo also aimed “to raise awareness in Lebanon about the fact of running for a noble cause,” they stated before setting out. “While the idea is very common in Europe, it’s still very rare in Lebanon, [the notion] that people can make a difference by just running.”

The idea came to them as they were drinking coffee after a long Sunday run, a regular activity for these members of the Elite Running Club. When the topic of ultra-marathons came up, the next question was, why not hold one along the Lebanese coast?

“Our initiative makes young people realize the importance of sports in their lives,” they explained, “and how much they can give back to the communities they live in just by practicing a sport like running.”

For more info – facebook.com/Defeetcancerrun