MORE than 20,000 people are set to take part in the Great South Run today.

The event, which takes place in Southsea, is scheduled to go ahead as planned, with an improved forecast following Storm Brian yesterday.

It comes after the Great South 5k and the Junior and Mini Great South Run, which were scheduled to take place on Saturday, were cancelled due to the bad weather.

Sponsored by Simplyhealth, Sunday's event starts and finishes in Southsea and features a fast and flat course that has been graced by world-class athletes such as Liz McColgan, Paula Radcliffe, and Sonia O’Sullivan.

Paralysed fundraiser Claire Lomas MBE, who is aiming to walk the 10-mile course over 24 hours in a revolutionary ReWalk suit, will start her challenge at 10.05am on Sunday.

She is expected to finish on Monday morning on Clarence Esplanade.

Great Britain’s Chris Thompson will defend his Simplyhealth Great South Run title after the 36-year-old scored a memorable victory on the Southsea coast last year.

In the women’s race, Charlotte Purdue and Gemma Steel will battle it out for honours.

The event offers the unique opportunity to run through Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, passing iconic landmarks such as HMS Victory, HMS Warrior and the Mary Rose Museum.

The event is shown live on Channel 5’s live from 10am until 12noon and will be presented by Radzi Chinyanganya and Helen Skelton.