12,000 to run to music at first half marathon

More than 12,000 runners will line up at 9.30am on Sunday for London's first official half marathon, spurred on by music from 30 live bands.

Organisers will test research from Brunel University which found music can improve endurance by 15 per cent.

The 13-mile race through Greenwich, starting and ending at the O2, will see 12,500 celebrities, amateurs and elite athletes compete for a share of the £5,000 prize money.

Run to the Beat - which is now full although entries are open for next year - is not only the capital's first official half marathon but also the first to use music to improve performance.

Dr Costas Karageorghis, a reader in sport psychology at Brunel University, found music can enhance endurance as well as making athletes feel positive during a gruelling work-out.

He also found in his study - to be published in the US Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology - that matching the music's beat to exercise can regulate movement and reduce the oxygen needed by as much as six per cent.