Darlington Koryo Club finished top of the lot when they entered an inter-club tournament last weekend against four other clubs from the region.

All five teams - Cockerton, Darlington, Newton Hall (Durham), Belmont, Hartlepool - are part of the Koryo organisation and the Darlington club, based in Cobden Street, were winners of the tournament by a narrow five points.

The winning margin was ironic because last year Darlington were pipped to the title by the same gap.

Every member of the 24-man squad, trained to victory by Martin Orr who is a Fourth Dann black belt, contributed to the success as they all finished at least third in their category after competing in a round-robin format.

Team manager David Buckingham admitted he was pleasantly surprised to see the Darlington club enjoy such success.

"I wasn't expecting them to be as good as they were," he said. "Some of them that are white or green tag always enter competitions but don't always win.

"But they did well and it was nice to see."

Runners-up were fellow Darlington club, Cockerton.

The Darlington Koryo club members, including, their finishing position, were: Josie Green, 10, 3rd (35 kls); Natalie Hepper, 10, 3rd (37); Luke Kovacs, 9, 1st (35); Shane Kovacs, 10, 2nd (38); Fallon Yip, 16, 1st (46); Jamie Hayman, 7, 1st (32); Mark Tenwick, 13, 3rd (32); Peter Tenwick, 8, (34); Laura McIntyre, 13, 1st (38); Georgia McIntyre, 12, 2nd (36); Daniel McIntyre, 6, 3rd (29); Lucas Roy, 13, 1st (43); Kirsty Marshall, 7, 3rd (32); Paul Hepper , 17, 1st (48); Dave O'Neill, 30s, 1st (67); Ashleigh O'Neill, 9, 1st (34); Haley O'Neill, 11, 2nd (36); Joshua Brannon, 10, 3rd (41); Chelsee Oxby, 11, 1st (38); Stuart Savage, 23, 1st (63); Brandon Boward. 10. 3rd (35); Anthony Hoare, 17, 2nd (67); Claire Ward, 15, 1st (53).

* Chief instructor Martin Orr is hoping to become a black belt Fifth Dan in the next year at which point he will become a master.