London Marathan 2008 - Dancers galore ...

Six Maasai warriors from Tanzania will run wearing traditional clothes, shoes made from car tyres and plan to sing along the route. The warriors are raising money to provide safe drinking water for their village, Elaui, in east Africa. Before the Maasai Warriors arrived in London a week ago from Eluai village in Tanzania they had never been out of their country. After years of little rain the search for water in their country has become increasingly desperate. Initially, it was the cattle that died, now it’s the village elders, the sick and the children. “That is why we came to London,” said Isaya, the group’s leader. The aim of Isaya and his five fellow warriors is to raise enough money to provide their village with clean water, which will cost between £20,000 and £60,000, and the courage and dedication of their efforts have earned the respect of the nation. “Where we are now, there is nothing we can compare to home,” said Isaya. “We saw a film of the London Marathon, and that is all we knew before we came here.” They expect to finish in around four hours despite wearing full Maasai dress, including shields and shoes made from rubber tyres. They found it incredible that they could raise funds through running, something they do every day. They said “we will be dancing and singing on the way round,” said Isaya, “so people understand our culture better.”

The London Marathon is a popular road marathon that has been held each year in London since 1981, run over the traditional distance of 42.195 km (26 miles and 385 yards). An unusual feature is the very large amounts of money raised for charity, much more than other marathons. Sometimes in ludicrous fancy dress and often collecting money for charity, these runners make up the bulk of the 30,000+ runners and help to draw crowds of half a million on the streets.
On March 29, 1981, nearly 7,500 athletes participated in the race. The Marathon's popularity has steadily grown since then. Today some 40,000 runners are taking to the streets hoping to cross the finish line at the London Marathon. The 26-mile route runs from Greenwich and Blackheath in south-east London to Buckingham Palace, but was rerouted after a gas leak near Canary Wharf (The gas leak was said to be serious enough to slightly divert the remaining runners by about 200m). Forecasters say the fine weather is perfect for a marathon, with showers likely for people taking longer.

Races to watch out for:

• Buster Martin, aged 101 and father of 17, is hoping to become the oldest person to complete the 26.2 mile (42km) race. He said: "I may not be a millionaire in money, but I'm a millionaire in health."
• Dave Heeley, a blind runner from West Bromwich, is aiming to make London his seventh marathon, as part of the Seven Magnificent Marathons challenge run across seven continents in as many days.
• Rebecca and Mike Tomlinson - The daughter and husband of multiple marathon runner Jane Tomlinson, are running together (Jane died in September after a seven-year battle with cancer during which she performed many feats of endurance and raised millions for charity.)
• Michelle Frost on stilts – raising money for the Reach volunteer charity (for families of children with upper limb deficiencies). She said: "It was a bit of a spur of the moment idea because I could already stilt walk, and I thought why not?
• The celebrity runners include chefs Gordon Ramsay and Michel Roux and Big Brother 2002 winner Kate Lawler who is running for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust wearing underwear designed by Ann Summers. Also running are James Cracknell, Adrian Chiles, Graham Poll, Jonathan Pearce, Phil Daniels and Amanda Holden.
• 25 Met Police officers linked together
• basketballer Jean-Yves Kanyamibwa dribbling a basketball and aiming to raise £1000 for his nominated charity Victa (Visually Impaired Children Taking Action)
• Neal Walker (dressed as Elvis) wants to break the Guinness World Record for running the fastest marathon dressed as Elvis which Ian Sharman set last year at 2:57:44. His aim of raising between £2000 and £3000 for the Alzheimer’s Research Trust in London, and at the New York Marathon this November, should be incentive enough.
• Lloyd Scott, who is wearing a 9ft (2.74m) robot suit and expects to finish on Friday. He’s run London's marathon in a deep sea diving costume, a suit of armour and dressed as Indiana Jones dragging a 300lb boulder. Now Havering’s most famous charity fundraiser Lloyd Scott is preparing to run this year’s race as a 9ft tall iron robot (raising money for the Autism Trust). Lloyd said “It’s not the most comfortable thing to wear- I've recently had my second hip replacement and I probably have as much metal in me as any robot! The Autism Trust charity supports autistic youngsters once they are 19 or over and have left supported education. Lloyd said “often the perception of autistic people is that they have a robotic existence when in fact they are very real people, with huge potential and the ability to flourish with the right help and support."