Two Royal Mail managers from Tavistock have completed an epic running challenge in aid of the British Heart Foundation.

Paul Davies and Leesa Grainger ran five marathons on five consecutive days while visiting 11 delivery offices in the Plymouth area along the way.

The duo covered 211km and conquered an elevation of 1,632 metres (287 metres higher than Ben Nevis).

Paul and Leesa’s journey began on Monday. September 22 at St Austell Delivery Office and finished at Plymouth Mail Centre on Friday, September 26.

Paul, from Tavistock, said: “Weirdly, one of the hardest parts of this challenge was how time consuming it was. We would finish a marathon each day and then come home and work on our recovery which included ice baths, rolling our muscles and getting hydrated for the next day.

“The toughest day was during our last marathon on Friday because we were so close to the finish line but it felt like it was never going to arrive.”

At every delivery office that Paul and Leesa visited, they were greeted with Royal Mail staff who came out and cheered them on.

Paul continued: “It was a fantastic bit of morale and kept us motivated to get to the next checkpoint. On the last day of the challenge all the managers, postmen as well as our family and friends came to welcome us in and celebrate with us. It was fantastic, we could not have done it without their support.”

Paul and Leesa started training for long distance running when they completed the Belfast Marathon in May of this year.

Since then they caught the running bug and decided to take the five marathon challenge in aid of a charity that is dear to both of them.

“When we started this challenge we were hoping to raise £1,000 for the British Heart Foundation but then the funds just skyrocketed.”

The pair smashed their target and managed to raise over £3,000 for the British Heart Foundation.