A TRIO of staff from a Darlington Engineering firm are celebrating taking first place at the Teesdale Triathlon last weekend.

The event took place in Barnard Castle on Sunday, September 21, and involved a 400m swim, an 18-mile bike ride and a three-mile off-road run.

The team, named The Three Amigo’s, took part in the sprint triathlon along with 150 other applicants.

Deep Ocean Engineering employee's Jim Pyrah, Ewan Porteous and Chris Garcia won first place with a five minute lead and a total time of one hour and 22 minutes.

Head of geotechnical at the firm, Jim Pyrah, lives in Gainford and has taken part in the race several times before.

He said: “I completed the triathlon myself a few years ago, and have since done it as part of a team with my wife.

“I enjoy taking part in the triathlon as it’s a very friendly event. We were quietly confident but when we turned up and saw everybody standing around looking quite fit with flash bikes it did fill us with doubt.

“When they announced that we had come first we were all really pleased. We’ve trained hard so it’s nice to know it paid off.”

Mr Pyrah added: “We got a little plaque for winning and my children are very pleased. It’s on the bedside table and I will eventually bring it into work.”