MILE 1: Runners leave the University of York, established in 1963 and now one of the country’s foremost education institutions, and head for the city centre.

They will enter the heart of York through Walmgate Bar, the most complete of the four main medieval gateways to the city and which has a stone archway dating back to the 12th century.

MILE 2: Shortly before the two mile marker at Monk Bar – used as a freemen’s prison in the 16th century – competitors will pass York Minster, which was consecrated in 1472 and took 250 years to build.

MILE 5: The route now heads away from the city centre and over the A64 to the village of Stockton-on-the-Forest, with its distinctive Victorian gothic-style Holy Trinity Church.

MILE 10: Now it’s along attractive country lanes and on to Upper Helmsley, an ancient village mentioned as Hamelsec in the Domesday Book. The church in the village is dedicated to St Peter and was entirely rebuilt in 1888.

MILE 11: Sand Hutton comes into view where the 4th Baronet of Sand Hutton, Sir Robert Walker, had his own narrow-gauge railway which provided transport around his large estate. These days the village is home to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Food and Environment Research Agency.

MILE 14: The halfway point has been passed when runners reach Stamford Bridge, the site of a famous battle in September 1066 when King Harold beat the Viking King Harald Hardrada. Three weeks later the ill-fated Harold marched south for another battle at Hastings – and we all know the result of that one.

MILE 18: On to the Murton Turning Point and a welcome boost from Marathon Talk, producers of the popular weekly podcast, who will have a motivation station here to spur on participants.

MILE 20: It may be a small village but Holtby boasts a Grade II listed church and between 1847 and 1939 had its own railway station on the York-Beverley line.

MILE 23: At Murton runners will soon be crossing the A64 again and heading back towards the finish at the University of York. Murton Park is home to the Yorkshire Farming Museum and the last remaining half-mile section of the Derwent Valley Light Railway.

MILE 24: Osbaldwick has been in existence since the 11th century and is the burial place of Mary Ward, the nun who founded the institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as the Sisters of Loreto.

MILE 25: It’s the Tang Hall district and the finishing line beckons. St Nicholas Fields Nature Reserve at Tang Hall is the base for York’s Environment Centre.

MILE 26: The grand finish back at the campus of the University of York.

Map of the route>>