Postmen and women will be putting in a marathon effort for the Gazette’s Help for Heroes appeal.

Nine posties from Devizes will aim to run the equivalent of six marathons on a treadmill at Devizes Leisure Centre.

They will take it in turns to complete the distance within 24 hours starting at 7pm on November 6.

Michael McEleavey, a former soldier and one of the postmen taking part, said: “I think it’s great what Help for Heroes does to help injured servicemen.”

Mr McEleavey, 46, from Potterne, said: “My colleagues all do half marathons and marathons so they are fit but running on a treadmill as opposed to outside is two different things.

“I imagine we will be running half an hour to an hour each before handing over to the next person. To achieve our target we will have to run no slower than 10.5kmh.”

The other posties taking part are Rick Lavens, Simon Goodman, Mark Adams, Ann Burgess, Andy Duffy, Claire Dyer, Phil Trebilcock and Roger Chandler.

Collection boxes to support the posties’ efforts are in the following places around Devizes: Hillworth Stores; Spar, Bath Road; Devizes Leisure Centre; Devizes sorting office; Erlestoke village shop; the vets at Easterton; Potterne village shop and Potterne Post Office; Rowde village shop; Sainsbury’s post office, Devizes; Wadworth visitor centre, Devizes, Lower Field Farm, Coate, and the burger van on Hopton Industrial Estate.