Egypt's second annual Kidathon -- a running event organised for Egyptian youth ages six to 14-- took off Friday morning in 6 of October city's business park Smart Village, with donations going to support child refugees of the Syrian Civil War.

The event was organised by youth-focused adventure company Muricata, powered by Inertia in collaboration with Marwa Fayed's Toy Run, to encourage Egyptian youth to embrace healthy lifestyles and contribute positively to society. This year, families registered for the races by donating a toy, to be delivered to Syrian refugee children through the Fard Foundation.

The first Kidathon took place in May 2016 and was attended by hundreds of Cairo youth. Building on the event's success, Muricata plans to expand the run to other Egyptian governorates in coming years

Warm-up stretches took place at 10am before the race, and runners were divided into three groups according to age.

Accompanied by their parents, children 6 to 8 years old kicked off the event with a two kilometre run at 10:30am, followed by ages 9-11 at 11:00. Runners aged 12 to 14 rounded off the event with a four-kilometre route at 11:30am.

After the races, certificates were given to all participants, while the first 18 finishers received trophies. Post-race activities included yoga classes, adventure games and arts and crafts.

Kidathon was launched by Omar Samra, an Egyptian banker-turned adventurer, who made history in May 2007 by becoming the first Egyptian and youngest Arab (then 29 years old) to climb Mount Everest.

Samra was also the first Egyptian to complete the seven summits challenge -- a climb of the highest mountains on each of the seven continents

Source: Ahram online