Nine Devizes posties have handed over £1,300 to Help for Heroes after their 24-hour marathon run on a treadmill at Devizes Leisure Centre.

They took it in turns on the equipment set up in the foyer two weeks ago, with half an hour on and two-and -a-half hours off.

They were hoping to run the equivalent of six marathons – more than 157 miles – but in the end they were closer to 180 miles.

They had collection boxes in all the delivery offices in the Devizes postcode area and all of them were full by the time they were collected.

Michael McEleavey, who helped organise the run, said: “We are delighted. We were hoping for £1,000 but we’ve done that and more.

“I would like to thank everyone who took part and who supported us. It is for a very good cause.”

Mr McEleavey and his colleagues, Andy Duffy, Rick Lavens, Clare Dyer, Simon Goodman, Roger Chandler, Ann Burgess and Ashley Russell, handed the cheque over at the sorting office in Sheep Street, Devizes, last week to Major David Bartholomew of Help for Heroes. Sadly, the ninth member of the team, Mark Adams, couldn’t make the cheque presentation.

* Two 13-year-old girls will be doing a sponsored walk for Help for Heroes.

Karly Heweson, of Queens Road, Devizes, and Toria Wilfort, of Seend Cleeve, will walk the canal towpath from Devizes to Seend and then switch to a footpath and walk to Melksham. The girls have already got £70 in pledges from classmates at Devizes School and family members.