THE dreaming spires will wake this Sunday with Oxford’s main thoroughfares closed to traffic and open instead to a 3,000-plus throng of runners.

The Town & Gown is now the most successful sports event in the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign’s 50-year history, raising more than £1m to date, but the race began as one local man’s quest to help his son.

Mike Cleaver, from Stonesfield near Witney, came up with the idea for a race to help raise funds for research into Muscular Dystrophy – the disease which blighted the life of his son Daniel.

Two hundred runners took part in the first race in 1981.

But three decades on, the 10k course now attracts runners from all over the region, and all manner of competitors – from serious athletes looking to improve their personal bests, to ordinary citizens looking for fun and the chance to raise money for a great cause.

A true spectacle to watch and take part in, Town & Gown winds through the historic heart of Oxford and the stunning University Parks.

Road closures and diversions allow spectators to line the route and runners, many in fancy dress, to pass the city’s remarkable architecture and sights unhindered by traffic.

And taking part for the first time this year will be members of Up and Running in Oxford.

Less than five months after lacing up their first pair of trainers, the novices of Up and Running in Oxford are preparing to run 10k – and they can’t wait.

Linda Davies, 60, from Cutteslowe, set up the group in January to urge women who had never run before to catch the race bug.

Mrs Davies, who only started running herself at the age of 31 said: “These women had literally never run before, but they really wanted to exercise.

“We started by running for just one minute. Then we built it up and up and for the past five months they have been training each week.

“Now they are actually looking forward to running 10k and even aim to do it in under one hour 15 minutes.”

Mrs Davies, a retired occupational therapist technician, now runs three weekly running groups just for women.

She said: “The six runners who feel ready to run the Town & Gown are aged 26 to 61 and you would never believe they started running in January.

“It’s a real achievement for them to be running such a distance and raising money for charity while they do it and as I will be running alongside them I’m looking forward to it too.”

One of Mrs Davies’ ‘super six’ is Vicki Green, 33, from Oxford.

Miss Green, who works in pensions, was inspired to train after her brother James Green, 30, was diagnosed with lymphoma (cancer in the lymph system) in December.

She said: “It was a terrible shock and James’s friends and I wanted him to know that if he could put up with cancer treatment, we could do something challenging too.

“When I started with the Up and Running group I couldn’t run more than two minutes, now I’m looking forward to running 10k.

“I will start the race with the running group and then join James’s friends.

“We are all dressing up as combat soldiers and calling ourselves the ‘Green Army’.

“James is currently undergoing the last of his chemotherapy at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford and has hopefully beaten the cancer, fingers crossed. He will be there to watch us with his daughter Macey, eight, and they will be waving a big banner.

“It will be a fabulous day for us all, but I could never have done it without Linda and her running group.”

People interested in finding out more about the Up and Running in Oxford group should visit their website at upandrunninginoxford.co.uk news@oxfordmail.co.uk It’s not too late to enter the 2011 Town & Gown run in Oxford this Sunday. For more information and to enter, see muscular-dystrophy.org/ oxford or call 020 7803 4820