Pc David Rathband (second left) will be taking part with friends in the marathon A man running backwards and a woman knitting a world-record scarf will be among the 36,500 entrants in this year's London Marathon later.
The 26.2-mile event from Blackheath to Buckingham Palace starts at 0900 BST when the leading women runners set off.
Pc David Rathband, who was blinded by gunman Raoul Moat, will take part.
As will Olympic rowing champion James Cracknell, former Manchester United footballer Dwight Yorke, and models Agyness Deyn and Elen Rivas.
Once the elite women have started, the wheelchair race gets under way at 0920 BST followed by the top men and fun runners at 0945 BST.
Pc Rathband will be raising money for his charity which supports emergency services personnel who have been injured by criminals in the line of duty.
Deyn, who is also an actress and singer, is hoping to finish the course inside four hours.
"You can do anything that you put your mind to. I feel that's the thing I've discovered doing this and that can seep into everything in your life," she said.
Dublin-born Karl Twomey, 37, who will be running backwards, will be among more than 100 people hoping to break marathon records of one kind or another.
He said: "It's not so much neck ache, it's more landing on my butt. I've had a few falls in training. Obstacles are the problem.
"I was veering in the wrong direction into poles, bins - you name it, I've hit it."
BBC weather forecaster Alex Deakin said there could be fresh conditions for the start of the marathon.
But he said the later finishers in the afternoon might feel the heat, with temperatures of about 19C (66F).
At the head of the field Tsegaye Kebede and Liliya Shobukhova will be back to defend their men's and women's titles respectively.
British hopes are likely to rest with Liz Yelling in the women's and Andrew Lemoncello in the men's.
Organisers have added seven Japanese athletes after what was supposed to be their final trial for the world championships - the Nagoya Marathon - was cancelled because of the earthquake and tsunami.
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-england-london-13107523
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