These two fine athletes to your left will be running/crawling 26.2 miles around the streets of New York in November. Please show them some pity and sponsor them.

In preparation for the run Nick (on the right) has taken to eating his own body weight in red meat on a daily basis, training with ex-Olympic Bulgarian weight lifters and generally getting massive. James (on the left) has combined scientific street pounding with drinking isotonic larger. He is somewhat perturbed by having to do something whilst technically “on holiday”.

The run is dedicated to Ian Broomfield who completed the marathon in 2004.

A thousand thanks to the following who have donated offline:

Prysmian Cables and Systems, £1000

Sean Heath, £200, Ruby Capital

Charles Evans-Lombe, £50, Egerton Capital

Adam Gaby, £50, JPMorgan

Swantje Conrad, £100, JPMorgan

Colin Orr, £50, JPMorgan