RUNNERS from around Oxfordshire are limbering up ahead of what could be the ‘hottest ever’ London marathon on Sunday.

Hundreds of people from around the county are expected to take part and raise money for worthy causes.

The capital is set to bake as the hot spell continues, amid warnings that temperature could hit the mid-20s.

Lisa Ruggles is running for the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group, but it is also her first race as part of the newly formed Bicester branch of 261 Fearless.

The name is based on the story of the global group’s founder Kathrine Switzer, also running her first London marathon on Sunday wearing the 261 bib.

Ms Switzer was famously the first official female finisher of a marathon despite a steward at the Boston Marathon trying to rip her bib off.

Mrs Ruggles, 39, said: “The aim is to empower women across the world to be fearless and just to stand up and have equal rights, especially in sports, and to challenge things when they feel they are being treated unfairly.”

Patricia Lee, from Middleton Stoney near Bicester, is also taking on the famous event in honour of a friend with cerebral palsy and has been helped and cared for by disability charity Contact.

Oxford hospice Sobell House has a number of people taking part including Rebecca and Vince Foster.

They are running in memory of Mr Foster’s mother Pauline Foster, who died at home in January 2016, after being cared for at the hospice.

Alex Flynn, from Wallingford, will also be running, despite being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease a decade ago.

The 46-year-old has taken part in various endurance events to raise money for the charity and awareness of Parkinson’s.

Shaun Scott, 47, is running with a bike strapped to his back to represent the burden firefighters have to carry.

The firefighters charity he is fundraising for support emergency service staff emotionally.

Having broken an unofficial world record in the Gloucester marathon, Mr Scott added: “I am not looking forward to the heat but I have been training quite hard and have a good nutrition plan so it won’t effect me finishing.”

The forecast has led to fancy dress wearers being urged to consider not wearing or modifying their outfits, to avoid dehydration.

Other runners are being told to reconsider their target times and run more slowly.

But the weather is unlikely to put off Darren Davies from Headington, despite the 47-year-old running while wearing a specially designed 60lb rucksack in aid of the British Heart Foundation.

He is hoping to beat the current world record, of four hours 34 minutes, for carrying a weight.