Beverly Hills residents ran, walked and cheered through the streets near El Rodeo Elementary School on Oct. 18 to raise money for childhood cancer research.

The sixth annual Run of the Stars 5K benefited the Not Today Cancer Foundation, an organization co-founded by Beverly Hills parents J.J. Duncan and Stacey Book after their son Mason Duncan-Book died of T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-ALL) in 2020. He was 11 and a fifth-grader at Horace Mann Elementary.

"Not Today Cancer" was the mantra Mason and his family repeated during his treatment. Before the race, Duncan led the crowd in shouting it together on the count of three, Beverly Highlights reported.

"It fills my heart to see everybody show up and to say his name and to hear it," Duncan said. "To contribute to this organization, into this dream that we have, it keeps me going."

This year's race also honored Kaylee, a Southern California teenager diagnosed with leukemia who hopes to return to the soccer field and play for the Guatemalan U-17 National Team after treatment. Kaylee blew the air horn to start the race.

The Beverly Hills High School (BHHS) marching band sent runners off into the 3.1-mile course. Beverly Hills police and fire department members escorted the route, blocked roads for safety and joined the race themselves.

Beverly Hills Run Club led a group warm-up before the start. Beyond the 5K, organizers held a 1K kids race and a festival with local vendors, crafts, face painting, music and soccer activities.

The event drew repeat supporters. Anya Glucksman, a BHHS junior who has attended every year since the race began, called it a fun gathering for a good cause, according to Beverly Highlights.

Junior Jessica Forston won this year's event T-shirt design contest with her entry called "Shooting Star."

According to the Not Today Cancer Foundation's website, the organization funds pediatric cancer research, including work on CAR T-cell therapy targeting T-ALL at Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Rayne Rouce, a pediatric oncologist and investigator at those institutions, said in a message posted on the foundation's site that donations have helped improve how researchers make CAR T cells to fight leukemia.

The next Run of the Stars 5K is scheduled for Oct. 17, 2027, in Beverly Hills.