THOUSANDS of people, from serious runners to those in fancy dress will be pounding London's streets on Sunday.
And scores of the runners in this year's London Marathon will be from Huddersfield.
For months they have been training in the wind, rain and snow - and now they have 26 miles of pain before they cross the finishing line.
Among those lining up are Nikki Callaghan, 23, a trainee solicitor from Fenay Bridge, who is hoping to raise £1,500 for the Children with Leukaemia charity.
She decided to do the marathon in memory of her cousin, Jamie Haigh, 14, who died from the illness last year.
Kavita Singh, 37, of East Avenue, Lindley, has taken up the challenge to raise money for Scope, an organisation which supports disabled people with conditions including cerebral palsy.
The mother-of-three decided to take up the challenge to boost the cause which has helped her six-year-old daughter, Anjali.
David Brown, 36, of Oakfield Drive, Lower Hopton, Mirfield, is also running for Children with Leukaemia. He wanted to do something positive after his sister-in-law, Sadie Hepworth, 25, died last year.
"Through all the training I have done and all those cold nights when I did not want to go out running I have had her in the back of my mind," said the father-of-two.
Martin Wright wanted to run a marathon before hitting the big four zero - and he'll just about manage it!
The 39-year-old, from Longwood, is tackling the marathon before turning 40 in May.
He will be running for the Greenlea unit for cancer patients at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.
Other runners include Richard Ford, of Holmfirth; Jeremy Burkinshaw, of Shepley; Paula Bee, from Almondbury; Stuart Ambler, from Huddersfield; Amanda Salter, of Kirkheaton; Keith Dodsley, of Waterloo; David James, from Waterloo; Craig Robshaw, of Netherton; Anthony Phillips, of Bradley; and Michael Mellor, from Golcar.
* The London race is one of the world's biggest marathons and certainly the UK's biggest single one-day charity fundraising event.
* In 2002, more than £31m was raised for charities by 76% of the runners.
* The London Marathon is seen as everyone's race. World champions, Olympic champions, national champions, club runners, celebrities, wheelchair entrants, fun runners, people running in fancy dress - all take part in the streets at the same time.
* This year more than 33,000 runners will get out their shorts and running shoes and go through 88lb of vaseline - it helps prevent rubbing and chafing in the wrong places - and 710,000 bottles of water.
