HALLOWEEN this year poses a special kind of trick-or-treat for personal trainer Ronny Terry, who will be striking out across the town in a continuous 24-hour walk for Prospect Hospice.

The founder of Wood Street-based company Switch Fit UK first started supporting the Adver’s 160 Appeal when he began coaching reporter Liz, who needed to lose three stone so she could do a skydive for the Wroughton-based charity.

Now the 36-year-old father-of-one is hoping to raise £500 by taking the day-long stroll around the town.

He said: “Prospect Hospice is something I have a connection to after they took care of my father in the last three or four days of his life.

“It was a force behind my decision to help Liz that the staff at Prospect had ensured my father had a pain-free and dignified end to his 66 short years.

“Twenty-four hours of continuous walking is a great test of endurance as well as mental strength and it’s also just a different breed of challenge.

“It’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a while but the timing wasn’t right and I was torn between a few charities.

“So when Liz suggested that I do it for the Adver’s 160 Appeal it seemed like a good idea, and I suggested that she should come along too.”

Ronny and Liz are planning to set off on what they’ve nicknamed a 24-hour Walk From Hell on October 31 from 8am, and then walk continuously through Halloween night before completing the route shortly after daybreak at 8am on November 1.

Ronny said: “I was thinking about how long I would need to train, prepare, and other commitments and I thought that about two months would take us to Halloween.

“My other idea was to do it on Christmas Eve but I knew my family wouldn’t be very happy that I would set off on Christmas Eve and not be back until the end of Christmas Day.

“It’s going to be a hellish walk so it does tie in quite well with Halloween.

“The exact plan for the route has not been finalised, but I suspect we’ll take it through Swindon and via some of the town’s landmarks and probably include some off-road aspects as well, but those details will fall into place as time goes on.”

Although the walk will pose a challenge to the fitness expert, who spent five years as Swindon Town FC’s performance analyst, Ronny does not intend to carry out any particular kind of training regime in preparation for the hike.

He said: “I’m not going to do anything different trainingwise than what I’m doing at the moment for this event.

“I’ve not walked for 24 hours before, I’ve maybe only walked continuously for three hours at most.

“I’ll probably just expand on what I do currently, which is lifting, short runs and high intensity interval training.”

To sponsor Ronny and Liz, donate through their Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/24hourwalkfromhell