More than 40 Navy Seabees raised over $5,176.88 in what is likely the first-ever “Relay for Life” cancer fundraiser in Iraq, officials said Tuesday.

The weekend event, which saw a team of Seabees continuously run or walk for 24 hours in a row, stretched into 218 total miles. Seabees from the unit’s home base in Port Hueneme, Calif., took part in a similar event, halfway across the globe from their comrades in Iraq.

“Although busy with our construction effort for Operation Iraqi Freedom III, still Seabees volunteered and participated in this occasion, all for a cause,” Petty Officer 1st Class Majellen Quezon, who helped organize the event in Iraq.

The Relay for Life is an American Cancer Society event that began in 1985.

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