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The art of speedrunning requires a mix of skill, dedication and in-depth video game knowledge, and speed run videos can be fascinating to watch. Last year a speedrunner called Cosmo drew almost 700,000 hits on YouTube with a video of himself beating The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in just 18 minutes and 10 seconds, and a niche video game community has been built up around speedrunning as enthusiasts share their tips, tricks and achievements.

Awesome Games Done Quick is a bi-annual charity marathon event where speedrunners come together to show off their skills and raise money for cancer research at the same time, with speedruns broadcasted on Twitch. Highlights of the seven day event includes a marriage proposal during a Mischief Makers run, Runnerguy2489's blindfolded speedrun of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's child dungeons, and ovendonkey's 51 minute run of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

According to AGDQ's donation tracker, the event has raised over $1.5 million for Prevent Cancer Foundation with major sponsors including Humble Bundle, The Yetee and Game Grumps. Videos from the event have been assembled into a YouTube playlist for those who missed watching it live, and a thread on Reddit has collected some of the week's highlights. Over 150 games were featured throughout the event, and our sources indicate that they were awesome.

Awesome Games Done Quick was organized by Speed Demos Archive, and is the eleventh speedrunning charity marathon event to  be hosted by the site. AGDQ 2015 is also the most successful event to date, beating last year's total of just over $1 million and bringing the total amount raised through the speedrunning events to over $4 million. Another marathon, Summer Games Done Quick, will take place later this year.

Prevent Cancer Foundation was founded in 1985 and since then has dedicated over $120 million to cancer research, public education on detecting and preventing cancer, and community outreach. Since 2010 the Games Done Quick events have raised money for a range of charities, including Doctors Without Borders, CARE and Organization for Autism Research.

Although the event is over, you can still donate to Prevent Cancer Foundation here.

Source: Games Done Quick