Don pounds the street

Peter Bramham, 50, a senior lecturer from Leeds Metropolitan University, took just two hours and 58 minutes to complete his first London marathon in 1985. A dedicated fell runner, he does not think that the 26.2-mile course will cause too many problems the second time round. "I am running with my 23-year-old daughter this year. It is her first time and she is petrified. We hope to make it in six hours," he says.

Bramham's training schedule has eased off during the past month, the time when most novice marathon runners start to panic. His daughter, on the other hand, lives in London and has stuck to long-distance road-running.

His experiences have taught him that there is a lot more to marathon running than meets the eye. "One of the great silences in fun-running is the number of fatalities there are," he said. "People don't remember to drink enough and get dehydrated. They are often not properly prepared."

Bramham is running for an intensive-care ward in Leeds General Infirmary, while his daughter is raising funds for a children's hospital.