Mumbai, Jan 15 (IANS) More than 38,000 people, including celebrities, senior citizens and many on wheel chairs, are set to participate in the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon Sunday that begins from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in south Mumbai.

A whopping 38,430 young and old, amateur and professional runners, would participate across different categories in the eighth edition of the marathon, making it bigger and better this season.

"The full marathon (42.195 km) has received 2,800 entries, while the half marathon has 11,000 people running a distance of 21.097 km," said Vivek Singh, joint managing director of Procam International, the organisers.

The prize money of a total of $325,000 promises an enhanced prize to Indian male and female full marathon winners who will now receive $6,500 as against the $6,000 prize money last year.

Also participating in this year's marathon are 1,800 runners in the senior citizens' run category, while the wheelchair event has 300 participants.

"The dream run of six km has 22,500 runners, the highest number of participants across all categories," said Singh.

Known for its charity aspect, the marathon will see participation from 179 NGOs and 132 companies and corporate houses each promising to raise a minimum of a lakh rupees towards several causes.

The celebrity quotient of the event is also very high, thereby helping the event to support charities.

Film and television personalities like John Abraham, Rahul Bose, Cyrus Sahukar, Purab Kohli, Gul Panag, Vivek Oberoi, Tara Sharma and the likes are set to be the centre of attraction during the event.

Not to be forgotten are business tycoons like Anil Ambani, Anand Mahindra, Riyadh Kundanmal, Ravi Trehan and socialites like Shobha De, the 'dream champions' (individuals raising Rs.10 lakh and above in charity) of the marathon.