Marathon effort in raising funds

Three Kiwi mates are pushing themselves in a bid to raise funds for cancer while tackling the Kerikeri half marathon later this month.

Sunil Unka, 33, Stuart Prill, 33 and Simon Jones, 33, of Auckland, have chosen to run to raise funds for the Cancer Society.

They've taken part in 12 events this year, one a month and have called themselves "three dozen".

The trio say they have been directly affected by the nightmares of cancer.

One of the trio lost their aunt to cancer in 2009 and between them they have a mother and a father undergoing treatment for the disease.

Mr Unka, Mr Prill and Mr Jones went to school together and say they had been close friends since the age of 15.

After living overseas they decided to return to New Zealand soil and run a marathon together.

They say the idea went off on a tangent and three dozen came about as a quest to complete one race together a month for the whole of 2010.

The trio are to complete their eleventh race this month with the Kerikeri half marathon after having completed the Auckland marathon. They've raised $5600 for their chosen charity to date.

The criteria they have set for themselves is that they had to run a minimum of 21 km each time.

The Kerikeri half marathon will be held on November 20. You can follow their progress on http://www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/running4cancer or join their facebook page; www.facebook.com '3DOZEN - Pushing the boundaries for Cancer'.