They were taking part in Jane Tomlinson's Leeds 10k Run For All.
Thousands more lined the streets and roads over a route which started in the Headrow, wound around Leeds city centre, out along Meanwood Road and back to the Headrow.

The sun shone and the crowds enjoyed a carnival atmosphere.

The main charity to benefit was Jane's Appeal, in memory of the inspirational Rothwell mum who raised more than £1m through her athletic feats before the cancer she suffered finally claimed her life.

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But individual runners and teams also raised funds for charities of their own choice, and the variety of charities was probably as numerous as the kinds of people taking part.

There were the super-fit and the very unfit, elderly people and those in their teens, people with disabilities, white and black, people of Asian and Oriental backgrounds. There were the inevitable fancy dress runners – Batman, Superman, menas nuns and St Trinian's girls, a chicken, lion, Smurfs, a juggler, three gorillas, Dennis the Menace and the Pink Panther. There were runners from pubs and corporate runners from the business community.

Charities displayed on running vests were both local and national, too numerous to mention.

The run started at two minutes to 9am with four disabled athletes in racing wheelchairs setting off. Then at 9am came the forefront runners, super athletes out to break their personal records.

Then came the rest, a mass of colour, cheered on by friends, relatives and onlookers.

One 70-year-old man ran round the course pushing a pram – which he had already pushed from Sheffield to raise sponsorship funds.

There was a clutch of TV personalities, including YTV's Christine Tabot and BBC TV's Harry Gration.

Harry, good sport that he is, confessed to being not at peak fitness. "I was all right for the first 100 metres," he said after crossing the finishing line. "I was kept going by the great atmosphere. I'm no athlete but I enjoyed it."

The first runner home was numbered E1, E standing appropriately for elite.

He was Dan Robinson of Stroud Athletics Club, hailed as Britain's best marathon runner and appeared barely out of breath. He covered the 10k in about 30 minutes, well ahead of the rest, and having established a lead in the first mile. Second was Aziz Abdulrahman from Leeds Park Lane College and Birchfield Harriers.

First woman across the line was Victoria Graves, and the first wheelchair racer was Hannah Cockroft.

Greeting them all at the finishing line was Jane Tomlinson's husband Mike, who is devoted to continuing the charity fund-raising started by his wife.

"The atmosphere before the start was amazing," he said. "It's
fantastic. The run is a fixture now. Jane wanted it and every year it is going to get bigger and bigger."