FOR all those who think that one wheel is better than two, the North-East was the place to be when enthusiasts from across the globe gathered for a unicycle convention.

Fans took their cycles to Billingham, Teesside, for the three-day event.

It was an eclectic bunch, with unicyclists from as far away as Australia and Brazil travelling to the British Unicycle Convention in the town's St Michael's School.

Delegates on their cycles were doing a variety of stunts - even playing hockey and ceilidh dancing.

Ruben Pedros, 27, who travelled from Valencia, in Spain, for the convention, said: "I found out about it from the Internet. I've been unicycling for about eight months, but it's not easy to find other people who do it. This event is great because I can meet fans like me."

Despite remaining something of a fringe pursuit, unicycling has a die-hard following and is growing in popularity around the world.

Paul Tasker, one of the organisers of the convention, the only one of its kind in the UK, said: "In Japan it's taught in schools as part of the curriculum, every school kid there is given a unicycle for sports lessons."

A social worker by day, Mr Tasker, who lives in Stockton, got into unicycling through his neighbour and event co-organiser Roger Davies.

Mr Davies, who runs his own website, unicycle.com, said: "It's great because we'll go to a convention in Germany and the people we meet there come over here for this event. Almost everyone who is anyone in the world of unicycling is here."

Rodrigo Racy, 27, travelled from Sao Paulo to take part, but the Brazilian is used to long trips having recently entered the Guiness Book of Records for unicycling across Spain for 34 days off-road.

He said: "It's not so popular to unicycle in Brazil. I learned because I was in a circus. It's lots of fun, though, everyone should try it."