The speedrunning community is putting on two extensive marathons over the next couple weeks. A speedrunning marathon consists of a lot of speedruns completed over the course of several days. Both of the marathons listed here are collecting donations for Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières), a very excellent charity.

European Speedster Assembly
Info page: European Speedster Assembly
Stream page: Ludendi
Games schedule: ESA 2013 schedule (timezone-adjusted)

The European Speedster Assembly (ESA) is being held from July 15th (that's today!) to July 21st (this coming Sunday). This marathon is taking place in Skövde, Sweden, and will feature primarily European speedrunners. There are a lot of highly anticipated runs at this marathon, including (but not limited to):
  • F-Zero X by WMJ
  • Mega Man 1, Quake, Half-Life by Coolkid (personal note: seriously watch anything Coolkid ever does ever. He's amazingly good at his games and is a cool kid too (heh))
  • Sonic 1,2,3+Knuckles by AdamAK and TimpZ
  • Octodad RACE by S vs. Kotti (watch this just for the amazingness of the game. even if you've never played it.)
  • Zelda 2 RACE by Pro_JN vs. Arctic_Eagle (both of these guys have had the best time in the world at one point)
  • Super Metroid by Kottpower (currently has the fastest time in the world for the "any%" (fastest completion) category)


And many more.

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Summer Games Done Quick
Info page: SDA Charity Marathons
Stream page: Speed Demos Archive
Games schedule: SDA Charity Marathons (automatically adjusts to your timezone)

Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) is being held from July 25th (next Thursday) to July 29th. This marathon is taking place in Denver, CO. This event will feature primarily North American runners. There's some mild overlap in the game list with ESA, but for the most part it's an entirely different set of games, including:
  • Diddy Kong Racing by Toufool31
  • Zelda 1 by Darkwing Duck (he gets pretty dangerous, and also wraps around the screen and stuff)
  • FINAL FANTASY V by Puwexil
  • Zelda: A Link to the Past by Jadin (the speedrun of this game is super highly optimized and is an insanely good watch)
  • Super Metroid by Zoast (the holder of the fastest time for the "low%" (fewest items) and "100%" (all items) categories)
  • Super Mario 64 by Siglemic (probably the most well-known speedrunner)
  • FINAL FANTASY IV by Brossentia (highly-glitched edition. the things he does to this poor game would make Chris blush)


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Both marathon sites have links where you can submit a donation (via Paypal). 100% of the donation proceeds go straight to Doctors Without Borders; everyone participating in these marathons is a volunteer. And if you don't have that much spare cash to donate, don't fret! The charity gets a portion (might even be 100%, don't quote me on this) of advertising revenue, so just by watching, and especially by spreading the word, you're helping out. So what do you have to lose? Go watch these amazing marathons!