More than 800 people took part in a walkathon to raise awareness of cancer at The Lagoon, Amwaj Islands in Bahrain yesterday.

The Stand Up to Cancer event was organised by the Bahrain Cancer Society and participants, including 120 Interior Ministry recruits, walked 4.5km, our sister newspaper, the Gulf Daily News reported.

The event, which was not held in a race format, was sponsored by Batelco, Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, Bahrain Air and The Lagoon.

It also marked World Cancer Day which falls on Monday.

"We never expected such a huge response from people, whether participants or passers-by who stopped everything they were doing and joined us," said event director Adnan Al Qassab.

"Raising awareness on issues that touch people's lives has been something that we always try to emphasise as regular volunteers in different activities and programmes and since its cancer, we have decided to work alongside the Bahrain Cancer Society to raise awareness," he said.

"To all diseases, we always say it is better early than late, and taking initiatives to help ourselves and others should be a lifestyle that people should adopt."

He said money raised at the event would be used for programmes and activities related to the theme.

"We haven't calculated money raised from our sponsors or raised at the event, but we have plans to use it in our fight against cancer."

Present at the event were Works Minister Essam Khalaf and Bahrain Cancer Society president Abdulrahman Fakhro, who spoke about cancer prevention.

The society will also be holding lectures on how to prevent cancer throughout the month, while an art exhibition will open on Monday at the Bahrain Financial Harbour Fine Arts Gallery.

Meanwhile, Sabre Travel Network Middle East, a subsidiary of Sabre Holdings, donated BD5,000 ($13,321.61) to the Bahrain Cancer Society.

The fund was raised during its annual 'Give Together' campaign.

Employees collected BD2,500 in fundraising activities and the company contributed BD2,500. – TradeArabia News Service