-athon

-athon

suff. An activity that continues for an extended period of time: phonathon; talkathon.
[From (mar)athon.]

-athon

or -a-thon,

a combining form extracted from marathon, having the general sense “an event, as a sale or contest, drawn out to unusual length, often until a prearranged goal is reached”: walkathon; readathon; bikeathon; workathon. Compare -thon.