Meningitis has had a massive impact on my family, my younger brother is a survivor but sadly my Grandad lost his younger sister Stella to meningitis when she was just 3, the same age as my brother was when he had it back in 1993! Now my eldest daughter Lili-Wen is 3 years old I can appreciate what my parents went through (even more than I already knew). It's effected my brother his whole life, when he got out of hospital he had to learn to walk again and he still has problems now. The Meningitis Research Foundation is such an important charity and I want to do my bit to help.

The London Marathon has become an annual, inspiring and colourful fixture in the world’s sporting calendar since the inaugural race on 29 March 1981: a celebration of fun, fundraising and fancy dress.

Over the years more than a million people have completed the 26.2-mile course – which runs from Blackheath to The Mall, with a spectacular finish in front of Buckingham Palace, showcasing the very best that the capital city has to offer.

What’s more, these participants have raised over a billion pounds for charity and there have been countless amazing tales of human achievement throughout the event’s history – living up to its aim of helping participants ‘to have fun, and provide some happiness and sense of achievement in a troubled world’.