Padraic bids to fly past the other super-heroes in Edinburgh Marathon

Padraic O'Flynn, pictured, will be one of a record number of runners taking to the streets on Sunday for this year's Edinburgh Marathon.

For the first time, a half marathon race will be held on the same day as the marathon and the regular Hairy Haggis relay, swelling the overall field to around 23,500 entrants.

Mr O'Flynn hopes to run his way into the Guinness Book of Records dressed as Mr Incredible. He aims to beat the existing world record of 2h 43min 28sec, set last year by a man in New Zealand dressed as Batman's sidekick, Robin.

The 24-year-old occupational therapy student, who lives in Dalkeith Road, took up running after moving to the Capital from his native County Clare to do his masters at Queen Margaret University. He completed his first marathon at Loch Ness last year, in an impressive 2h 51min.

After that, he decided it was time to go for a world record, whatever it took: "We did one last year for the most amount of people to surf one wave, there were 43 of us in County Clare and we got that one, so I just got the idea from that and thought it would be a good laugh."

Marathon marketing director Damien O'Looney said organisers were looking forward to a record field of runners: "Between the marathon, the relay and the half, there's about 23,500 entrants – it's the biggest marathon we've had.

"We had just over 18,000 last year so we've jumped by five or six thousand with the introduction of the half marathon, so the buzz is going to be even better than it was last year. "The race course at Musselburgh is going to have about 20,000 people in it – when you come to the finish line, which is front of the grandstand, and you've got three or four thousand people cheering you on, it's amazing."

While there's no sign of the heatwave that marked last year's race, numbers could be hit if the volcanic ash cloud affects the travel plans of runners heading to the Capital for the race.

Mr O'Looney said: "It looks as though the wind is supposed to pick up, which should help disperse the ash."