Thousands take to the streets for half marathon

Many wear fancy dress for the Plymouth half marathon each year

Thousands of runners have taken to the streets of Plymouth for Sunday's half marathon.

The 13.1 mile (21km) route begins and ends on the Hoe, going via Embankment Road and through Saltram Woods, among other areas.

Organisers said a "dynamic road opening scheme" would ensure routes were re-open as soon as runners had completed each section, and all road closures would be removed by 14:00 BST.

Becky Moore is taking in the run in fancy dress to raise awareness of Type-1 Diabetes after he nephew was diagnosed with the condition. She said: "Last year when we were cheering everybody on, he said 'auntie Becky, would you do this dressed as Rufus the bear?', which is the Breakthrough T1D mascot."

"I'm not going to try and get a personal best or anything like that, I'm just going to run and enjoy it and raise awareness for Type-1 Diabetes," she added.

Meanwhile, Preston Wilkins, running the half marathon dressed as a banana, said he was raising money for men's mental health.

He said: "I'm doing it for Movember today, mental health charity, so yeah, looking forward to it."

The banana symbolises "peeling back the stigma" of mental health, he added.

Preston Wilkins (right) said he wanted to "peel back the stigma" around mental health

Jack Lambert, running with Mr Wilkins, said he completed his first half-marathon in October to raise awareness of Crohn's disease after his partner was diagnosed with the chronic inflammatory bowel condition.

"[I did it] just to prove to her that we can all go through tough times and push through and do stuff that we don't think we can do," he said.