YOU THINK YOU CAN'T RUN?

You've heard the stories before, but chances are you haven't heard one like that of Richard Whitehead. A British marathon runner, he is planning to take on the Big Apple and the New York Marathon on November 7th this year.

So what's special you may ask, after all don't thousands of others as well?

Richard was born with no legs below his knees, though prosthetic legs helped him walk a little differently from others.

The 30-year old says he always liked running and was inspired at an early age by the late Terry Fox, who lost his leg to cancer and ran the Marathon of Hope to raise funds for cancer research.

After going through intensive training, Whitehead ran his first-ever marathon in New York in 2004, completing it in 5 hours and 18 minutes.

He hopes to knock a full hour off his timing as he is using custom-made specially-cushioned running legs this time round. Though, he admits that time and training are not his biggest challenges, it is changing people's attitudes that is tougher -"...the hardest thing to do is to change people's attitudes towards you as an athlete."

So if you happen to be in New York cheer this man on to the finish line - never mind the timing.