The Parish Walk takes place today.
Eleven hundred walkers are currently gathering at the National Sports Centre for the 8am start.
Participants who complete the whole route will walk 85 miles and cover all 17 parishes in the Isle of Man.
Most don’t get that far and choose to complete their walk at some point earlier.
As well as being a competitive race, it’s also an important day for good causes.
Many who take part raise money for charities.
For a description of the route click here.
There are a number of road closures:
The main A1 from Union Mills to Crosby will closed to ALL traffic 8.20am to 10:30am.
The Cleaynagh Road: 9am tp 11.30am
The Orrisdale Road: 10am to 1.30pm
Derby Road, Peel: 12.30pm to 6.30pm
The weather is all-important for walkers.
The Met Office says it will start mostly cloudy today, with mist in places and extensive hill fog, but the north will be brighter with sunny spells and as the day goes on sunshine will develop more widely.
Moderate or fresh southerly winds, with temperatures reaching a rather warm 21 Celsius.
Raymond the Raven, the unofficial mascot of FC Isle of Man, says he's going to win. Click here to read more.
So what of the sport itself?
Here’s the verdict from our sports editor, John Watterson:
Paul Atherton will bid to become the fifth individual to win the overall Parish Walk three times in succession.
The Peel man has proved extremely strong since his partial transition from running and has to start as at least joint favourite on this occasion.
The key to his success has been his sheer resilience and consistency. Last year’s winning time of 15hr 23min 39sec was, incredibly, one second quicker than 2022.
Five-time winner Richard Gerrard, having announced that last year was to be his last after finishing runner-up 13 minutes adrift of Atherton, is back for more having already racked up 11 finishes.
Simon Gawne and Dean Morgan are two others likely to feature prominently.
Morgan was fourth last year (behind Liam Parker, who is not entered), and Gawne seventh. He trained hard all winter.
Not far off their pace are seasoned campaigners Adam Killip, James Quirk, Tony Edwards and Stewart Jones.
Josh Knights was eighth in his maiden finish 12 months ago and is capable of a top-six.
Sammy Bowden, 11th overall last year, will also be aiming for three-in-a-row in the women’s class, although her 2022 winning time of 17:20.26 was more than 40 minutes slower than 2021.
Louise Gimson, 24th overall last year and third female, will be out to go higher without Leanne Venables in the start list, although Lorna Gleave will be one to keep an eye on.
Others in with a chance of a top-50 overall finish include Amy Sykes, Jayne Farquhar, Bernie Johnson, Chloe Spooner, Danielle Barton, Nicola Raven, Tiffany Bell and Sarah O’Hare.
A real dark-horse could be fell runner Nikki Arthur, who only last weekend finished second in the women’s class of the West Highland Way.
Jock Waddington and Robbie Callister, with 10 wins between them, are going round for fun on this occasion, the latter aiming to get former boxer and keen athlete Colin Crooks to the finish for the first time after numerous attempts.
The overall entry is 1,190, about 50 down on last year, while a further 63 will contest the 32.5-mile under-21 race to Peel.
The event is once again sponsored by Manx Telecom and the general public are reminded that a number of road closures and one-way traffic measures will be in place.
It all starts from the National Sports Centre at 8am and the winner is expected to make it round the full 17 parishes and 85 miles to the finish close to the War Memorial on Douglas Promenade around 11.20pm on Saturday evening - or 11.23 and 38 seconds if Paul Atherton continues on the same trajectory!
•Full reports, results and photos in next week’s editions of the Isle of Man Examiner and Manx Independent.