A GROUP of young martial arts fighters took on the best from two of the country's biggest cities and won.

The youngsters, aged from six to 13, represented Darlington Boxing and Martial Arts Academy, and won 13 of the 15 fights against the best fighters from Manchester and Sheffield.

Paul Hamilton, who runs the gym, in Barton Street, Darlington, said: "Because I've got so many kids in the gym here, the man who was putting the show on said we could do North-West versus North-East, so I took the best kids I've got down to Manchester and, obviously, I'm overwhelmed at how they performed."

Camille Hamilton, Mark Podmore and Daniel Atkins each won two matches.

The other winners in the competition were Eddie Podmore, Damon Hamilton, Lynsay Archer, Joshua Crackett, Matthew Daley, Sabrina Bright and Gemma Morgan