The North East's only arm-wrestling club won a number of medals at a regional competition last weekend - and is now aiming for success at the national championships.

Arm-wrestling is on the rise in the UK with new clubs springing up around the country.

Dave Curry founded the Newcastle Armwrestling Club with the help of two professional arm-wrestlers - Ashkan Eman and Lloyd Herperker.

The number of people at the club has steadily increased and people travel from across the North - including from Redcar, Middlesbrough, Sunderland, Ashington and Carlisle - to train there.

Men and women of all ages are welcomed to the sessions at Alpha Gym in Benton.

Dave Curry described the club's recent success at the Regional Warzone competition on October 12.

He said: "Many of our members with only a year's experience went for their first competition.

"We had ten competitors in total, we arrived with the largest team there.

"The atmosphere was excellent and we even saw an appearance from Neil Pickup the three time world champion."

Next they are aiming for success at the national competitions.

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Here were some of the awards the North East team won:

Andrew Renwick - Middleweight Novice Left arm Champ

Clark Brettwood - Middleweight Novice Right arm Champ

Paul Scott  - Heavyweight Novice Left arm Champ, also picking up the Gold for the Masters division (50+)

Ashkan Eman - Middleweight Professional Right arm Champ and Silver in the overall contest 'The Yorkshire Cup' losing to former Worlds Strongest Man contestant Rob Frampton. 

Dave Curry picked up Silver in the Middleweight Novice Right arm class with team mates Phil Corr grabbing the bronze.

Clark grabbed his second medal, a bronze.

Wayne Ashley was promoted to Professional status on the day and took home a silver and a bronze which was an excellent showing. 

Everyone else placed in the top 6 of their class. 

Here are some pictures from the event:

(Image: Dave Curry) (Image: Dave Curry) (Image: Dave Curry) (Image: Dave Curry) (Image: Dave Curry) (Image: Dave Curry) (Image: Dave Curry) (Image: Dave Curry) (Image: Dave Curry) (Image: Dave Curry) (Image: Dave Curry)