AMONG the thousands of runners taking to the streets on Sunday will be one York couple whose running bug has taken them across the world and who will be setting out on their 50th marathon.

Colin Lea and his partner David Darton have already completed nine marathons this year, and are aiming to finish a total of 13 races in 2013.

When the pair started running together around ten years ago, Colin said they had no idea racing would become such a big part of their lives.

He said: “People in the running club were talking about doing these things called marathons, and I thought I would never do that.

“Then two years later I started.”

Since his first marathon in June 2005, their love of marathon running has taken Colin and David across the world and they have already run in four of the prestigious “majors” races in London, Berlin, New York and Chicago.

“When we do marathons in different countries we get to see the place, and experience the culture, and there’s that great feeling from the other runners as everyone supports each other,” said Colin.

“I did the Paris marathon in three hours 31 minutes, and running down towards the Arc de Triomphe was an amazing feeling, I just bubbled over.”

Now he is hoping the York race with its flat route will help him qualify for the Boston marathon by recording a time of less than three hours 30 minutes.

And Colin, who works in mental health, is running the York race to raise money for the Alzheimers Society.

He said: “A lot of the patients I work with have dementia, so this is a cause close to my heart.”

He is also a dedicated volunteer giving hours of his time to the British Red Cross and scouting, and is nominated for The Press’s Community Pride Awards as Volunteer of the Year.

Later this year they will run in a Euro-Asian marathon which takes place in two continents in Istanbul, in Slovenia, and in Portsmouth, and by the end of 2013 they will be over half way to joining the 100 Marathon Club.