AN 11-YEAR-OLD girl has raised more than £1,200 for a friend battling a rare cancer by staging an obstacle race.

Alenka Willis organised the event at Queen Mary’s School, near Thirsk, as part of a day to raise funds for Gaby Alderson, of South Otterington, near Northallerton, who is undergoing treatment for stage four MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma.

Fifteen teams of sponsored runners climbed and crawled over 15 obstacles across a two-mile course, ahead of the school donating about £5,000 to the appeal from its summer ball.

An appeal spokeswoman said: “It was a great boost to the appeal, which has now topped £50,000.”

She said Gaby would release hundreds of balloons in Thirsk town centre at noon this Saturday, with owner of the balloon which reaches the furthest after six weeks receiving a £50 prize.

The events are part of the drive to raise £500,000 for life-saving treatment for Gaby abroad should she need it.

Her mother, Vicki, said following Gaby undergoing months of treatment, while test results last week had shown she was was in part remission, she still has cancer in her bone marrow, which makes treating her difficult.

She said: “When she first started out on this horrible journey, her little body was literally covered with numerous tumours and she lit up like a Christmas tree on MIBG scans.

“She also had a sizeable primary tumour in her abdomen.

“Her latest MIBG show that nearly all, if not all, the tumours have disappeared. Her primary tumour has shrank so much it now only shows up on her MRI scan.”

Mrs Alderson said the results of further tests were set to reveal if Gaby would continue with her current drug trial or if she would need treatment at a hospital in London.