TEAMS from the North-East competed successfully in the first Paintball Association Cup, which was held in the grounds of a castle.

Witton Castle, County Durham, hosted the two-day tournament, which organisers believe signalled the birth of paintball as a national sport.

The event was organised by the Paintball Association and 6th Element, which holds recreational paintball at the castle.

Manchester, which was tipped by William Hill bookmakers to take the cup, beat Nottingham in the final to be crowned overall winners, but the region's squads also enjoyed success.

Newcastle took third place in division one, while Darlington were champions of the second division and Durham City, whose average age was just 16, finished in fourth spot in the same table.

A steady stream of spectators enjoyed the games, especially local derby matches such as Sunderland versus Newcastle which was won by the more experienced Tyneside side 100-0.

Gillie Hatton, secretary of the association, said: "It was a brilliant weekend, everything went smoothly and it was a big event for paintball as a growing sport.

"It was the first time games were played on a pitch marked out with white lines and teams represented their towns rather than taking on comical names.

"The pride in representing their town was evident from players and I was really pleased Durham did well, the seven players all helped organise the event and have worked as marshals before."