Athletes from all parts of the country will take over the city tomorrow with the return of the Leicester Marathon.
More than 3,000 runners will compete in the event, which includes the full and half-marathons.
They will set off from Victoria Park at 9.15am on their journey around and out of the city before returning to the park for the finish line.
Race organiser Christian Weikert-Picker, from Loros, said some of the top people from last year's event will be returning.
"It's always an open race and you can never quite tell who is going to win it," he said.
Hinckley Running Club's Chris Jordan will be looking to go one better this year after his second-place finish in 2011 with a time of 2hr 47min 18sec.
He lost out to Walton Athletic Club's Warren Kidgell, who completed the course in a personal best time of 2.45.13. But Jordan's run of 2.43.21 at this year's London Marathon should stand him in good stead coming into this event.
Nigel Stirk will be one of the favourites for the half-marathon title. The 40-year-old fireman won the event in 2010 but did not compete last year.
He finished 10th in the Copenhagen Half-Marathon last month in a time of 69.39 and should be there or thereabouts if last year's winning time of 73.13, by Nuneaton's Matthew Amos, is a fair marker.
The event will be opened by Claire Lomas, of Ab Kettleby, who completed this year's London Marathon in a robotic suit. Lomas was paralysed from the chest down after a horse-riding accident in 2007.
The course will wind its way through the city before heading out to Wreake Valley, around Queniborough and East Goscote, to Birstall and back to the city.
Weikert-Picker emphasised the importance of the crowds when giving support to the runners.
"People have seen at the Olympics how much a crowd can boost an athlete's performance," he said.
"We want that for our runners to help them beat their personal bests."
The awards for the half marathon winners will be presented at 11am and to the winners of the full marathon at 12.30pm.
There will also be a Loros fun run, a relay and the Ted Toft Mile for runners aged between 10 and 16, which is in memory of a man who was a massive influence on Leicestershire athletics, and who died in January last year.
Leicester City physiotherapist Tom Freeman will also be taking part in the full marathon, as fundraising for the 2012-13 LCFC Foxes Foundation campaign gets up and running.
