Nine Devizes postmen and women had stiffer legs than usual when they started work this week after running six and a half marathons at the weekend to raise money for Help for Heroes.

The nine took it in turns to mount a treadmill in the foyer of Devizes Leisure Centre, starting at 7pm on Saturday and finishing 24 hours later.

They hope their efforts will have raised £2,000.

Former soldier Mike McEleavey, 46, of Potterne, who organised the event, said: “We weren’t aiming to raise any particular sum of money, just to keep going for 24 hours.

“We were looking to run six marathons, but we did better than that. The support we had from people at the leisure centre was fantastic. We took between £100 and £150 from people passing.

“We won’t know how much we have raised until I pick up the collection boxes, but we’ve certainly got £1,000, and hope we can make £2,000.”

Although the posties all brought along sleeping bags to see them through the night, none were used.

Mr McEleavey said: “We were all too hyped up to sleep. There was music playing and there were four TVs to choose from.”

The other posties taking part were Rick Lavens, Simon Goodman, Mark Adams, Ann Burgess, Andy Duffy, Claire Dyer, Phil Trebilcock and Roger Chandler. They all did stints of half an hour, with two and a half hours off.

Mr McEleavey said on Monday: “I feel not too bad, considering we had very little sleep. My legs are a little stiff.”