DESPITE the tragedy in Boston, runners from Suffolk and Essex will push themselves to the limit on Sunday, striving to finish the 26.2mile course within their target time and raising millions for good causes in the process.

Jef Titmarsh, is running the London Marathon to raise funds for Cancer Campaign in Suffolk and he has already passed his initial fundraising target of £700. Jef’s training partner for the 26.2-mile run has been his beagle, Dexter.

Tim Larke, Rob Kett, Tamara Jordan, Jenny Bird, John Craddock and Richard Nash - all runners from the Stowmarket Striders - will be hoping to get a PB as they set out on their marathon challenge.

Trudy Kent, of Mildenhall, lost eight stone to run the course and is dressing as Where’s Wally on the day, she is raising money for United Response.

Retired Baptist minister Chris Walton will be pounding the streets of London to raise funds for the Ringsfield Hall Trust.

Tim Davis, of Braintree, is aiming to raise hundreds of pounds for Alzheimer’s Research UK after his grandfather Eric was diagnosed with the disease.

Tawnise Robinson, from Purdis Farm, Ipswich, has been busy training for the London Marathon in the hope of raising vital funding for Macmillian Cancer Support. She is running in honour of her grandmother, Pamela Howes, who died last year.

Tony Germany, from Bury St Edmunds, is taking part in the London Marathon in aid of Ormiston Children and Families Trust and is hoping to raise £1,500 along with Kate Alden, from Wivenhoe, who works for the charity.

Violet Phillips has been fundraising for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research as her son, Daniel, from Colchester, was diagnosed with blood cancer acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APML) aged 29.

Lisa Barnard will tackle the London Marathon next month to help Age UK and YouthNet, which have set up a new service where young volunteers help isolated older people get online.

Recovering gambling addict Phil Lindsay, of Ipswich, is preparing to take on the 26.2-mile run through the capital to raise funds for Norcas while former Ipswich Town goalie James Pullen is preparing to dress as the club’s mascot to take on the challenge of the Virgin London Marathon.

Ben Fosdike, Chris Coleman, Karen Skene, Ginny Hibbert and Byron Banthorpe are all set to take on a marathon challenge for the first time in aid of St Elizabeth Hospice.

Also a couple are gearing up for two different physical challenges in aid of Colchester General Hospital. Firstly Emma Cullip, 28, will host a Zumbathon on April 13 and then her husband, Gary, 27, will run the London Marathon.

They hope to raise £1,000 for the hospital’s neonatal unit after their daughter, Florrie-Belle, was delivered by emergency Caesarean section.

Andrew Long, from Fornham St Martin, near Bury St Edmunds, has been training for the past year for the marathon - a challenge he is undertaking to raise money for the Suffolk Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity.

Tom Haslam, who was born with a club foot, is hoping this weekend’s London Marathon could prove the springboard to bigger and better things - culminating in a trip to Brazil for the 2016 Paralympics.

We would like to wish all of our runners the best of luck. Don’t forget to send us photos from the marathon by uploading them at www.iwitness24.co.uk or tweet using #LondonMarathon