Laziness and indifference." This was former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's stinging criticism of Irish people when it comes to charity work. But this is a criticism that would be nigh on impossible to levy at the legion of fundraisers who will be pounding the streets of Dublin on the upcoming Bank Holiday Monday.

This year's Dublin marathon has not only attracted its largest number of participants (11,700) since its inception in 1980, but the largest contingent of home-grown runners who will make up 57pc of the field (in previous years, runners from overseas have made up the majority). The vast majority of these will be running to help raise money to support their chosen charities.

Simon Baker, from Limerick, will be running on October 27 with one goal in mind -- to set a new world record for the fastest marathon on crutches. After losing the lower portion of his right leg four year ago he is gunning to smash the record held by Aengus McFadden at 7 hours and 13 minutes.

Simon is running on behalf of children's charity The Bubble Gum Club and is being backed by bookmaker Paddy Power with all profits on bets regarding his finishing time going to the charity.

Another charity set to benefit from all the sweat-drenched effort will be Fields of Life, a charity that works in Africa to help develop sustainable communities.

Friendships

"It is nice to direct something to something more beneficial rather than boosting your own ego," says Graham Kinch, a 29-year-old Telecoms Strategist who is organising a team of runners to run the marathon to raise money to build a primary school in the Ugandan village of Kitandwe.

Graham joined with his childhood friend Ian Taylor to scale three mountains in three continents, and then tackled the highest one of them all Mount Everest. Unfortunately, only Ian succeeded in scaling Everest, but the two are focused on using the marathon as another means of raising the €85,000 needed to complete the project (they have raised more than €50,000 so far).

"Mountaineering in itself is quite a selfish act," says Graham. "A lot of things suffer, such as your relationships, career, finance and family. So, raising money for charity was a chance to put our focus on helping others."

Graham and Ian were planning on running the marathon themselves but medical advice has sidelined them both as they still have not fully recovered from the bashing their bodies have taken from Everest in May.

But the intrepid mountaineers have a team running on their behalf. And, I am proud to say, I am one of them. So, even if you are not running you can help through sponsorship. To lend much needed support visit www.everest2008.ie/fundraising or to find out more about the charity, check out www.fieldsoflife.com. Every little helps.

The final preparations:

Training hard right up to the days before your marathon, will only ensure you will arrive at the start line over-trained, over-tired and lacking the freshness to achieve your best. So, follow these final tips to make sure you are fit enough to run the race of a lifetime.

1. Ease back on your weekly mileage. Avoid running extremely hilly courses or doing speed workouts. This kind of training leads to muscle-tissue damage, which you need to minimise.

2. Eat a lot of protein this week to aid in the repair and recovery of muscle tissue damaged during the high-mileage phase of your training.

3. To avoid being run down rebuild your immune defences by loading up on Vitamin C orange juice, eating kiwis, broccoli or strawberries.

4. Stock up on lysine, an amino acid found mostly in meat and fish, which will further help your immune system.

5. This week, make sure you have your shoes and the kit you plan to wear for the marathon chosen and broken in. Always stick with a brand or items that have worked well for you in the past.

The Dublin City Marathon is on Monday, October 27

- John Costello