Five friends run Reykjavik half marathon for children with cancer

Seventeen-year-old Angelo Mikael Korale Arachchige and four friends will run the half marathon at the Íslandsbanki Reykjavik Marathon on Saturday to raise money for children with cancer, mbl.is reports.

The group, known as ÞABOYS, set a fundraising target of 50,000 Icelandic krónur but had collected 88,000 krónur by Friday. Angelo said the campaign had gone much better than expected.

“We thought about the children who are going through this, and we feel very sorry for them. Children have a harder time dealing with cancer than adults,” Angelo told mbl.is.

This will be the group’s first half marathon. Four of the five runners have little or no running experience, while the fifth has trained as a runner and has taken on the role of coach. Their final formal training session took place on Thursday evening.

Angelo, a student at Fjölbrautaskólinn í Breiðholti school, has mainly focused on weightlifting and done little running. He said the group expected to run about 17 kilometres during their final training session before completing the full half marathon.

Donations can be made through the fundraising campaign in support of children with cancer.