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A princess hoping to break a world record and a man dressed as the Angel of the North are among those preparing to run the London Marathon later.About 35,500 runners are expected to take on the 26.2-mile course through the city, which begins at 0900 BST.
Princess Beatrice, 21, hopes to become the first royal to complete the route.
She will join a "human caterpillar" of 34 runners aiming to beat the world record for the most people to finish a marathon while tied together.
They will be tied together two by two with bungee cords.
The princess, who is running for Children in Crisis, said she was "very, very excited". The Icelandic ash cloud had threatened to disrupt the race and many of the elite athletes only arrived after boarding a specially chartered flight from Madrid on Thursday.
Last year's runner-up, Britain's Mara Yamauchi, said she had endured a "mental rollercoaster" after spending six days travelling to London from her training camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
After flying to Lisbon, she took a taxi to Madrid, drove to Le Touquet in France and then boarded a propeller plane to Shoreham on Wednesday evening.
A total of 74 runners will be taking part in 41 different Guinness World Record attempts, including fastest cartoon character, animal, superhero, alien and runner on crutches.
George Bingham, 49, from West Yorkshire, will be wearing a 1/12 scale model of The Angel of the North.
He is hoping his costume, which is 14ft 1in (4.3 metres) tall with a wingspan of 14ft 9in (4.5 metres), will win him the record of tallest costume while raising more than £40,000 for charity.
One runner will be wearing a full fireman's suit, with oxygen tank and helmet, while another will carry 100lbs on his back.
Meanwhile former Army Major Phil Packer, who sustained serious spinal cord injuries in 2008, is aiming to walk the route in 26 hours for 26 charities.
The ex-serviceman, who last year took 14 days to complete the course, has raised a total of £1.3m for charity.
The runners can expect warm conditions with temperatures forecast to be about 15C and muggy, with a chance of early, light rain.
The elite women will begin the race at 0900 BST, the wheelchair race for men and women is scheduled to start at 0920 BST, while the elite men, UKA/England Athletics Championships runners and all other participants will set off from 0945 BST.This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.