ROYAL Mail is going to great lengths - with its latest collection of stamps - to celebrate this week's Commonwealth Games, hosted by Manchester.

Designed to capture the speed and excitement of competition, which runs until Sunday, as sportsmen and women race to the finish line, the new stamps have been stretched - to three times the width of a standard stamp - to make this point. The Shuttle/Times and News has joined forces with the Royal Mail to give away 30 first day cover sets of stamps in an easy-to-enter competition. Royal Mail last issued special stamps for this event in 1986, for the Edinburgh Games, and has only ever issued one longer set, for Information Technology, in 1982. One firm fan of the designs is Gavin Macrae, managing director of Royal Mail Stamps and Collectibles. He said: "Whether the stamps are viewed side by side in a presentation pack, or in the top corner of an envelope, the effect is the same - stunning. "It's not just the length of the stamps that give them impact, it's the way the grace and power of competition are combined - not an easy thing to achieve, whatever size canvas is used." Her Majesty the Queen opened the Games in what is sure to be remembered as one of the highlights of her Golden Jubilee celebrations.

To win one of 30 sets of first day cover Commonwealth Games stamps, answer the following question:

Q: In which city are the Commonwealth Games held?

Closing date: Friday, August 9