TERRITORIAL Army students from the North-East have won a place in the national finals of a military cooking contest.

Two chefs and a driver from Teesside, part of the Tyne Tees Regiment, proved they could whip up a challenging menu in a field kitchen.

Corporal Andrew Pearson, 37, from Middlesbrough, Corporal Kevin Mitchell, 41, from Guisborough, and Private Darren Coates, 34, from Darlington, came third in the local round of Exercise Combat Carer, held at Whitburn training camp, Sunderland.

Corporal Mitchell, a firefighter, said: "The worst bit was the weather. It was so windy on the seafront in Sunderland that if you didn't nail things down, you found them in next door's tent."

The competition tests a wide variety of skills that cooks may be asked to put into practice on operations.

Major Alan Anspach, who designed the challenge, said: "The competition was designed with the Balkans in mind. It is no good having a cook in this country who bakes and decorates wonderful cakes, if he then goes to Kosovo and cannot feed the troops."

The 51st Highland Regiment, of Perth, Scotland, won the contest, with 4th Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, based in Pudsey, Yorkshire, second.

The three teams will go forward to the national finals, to be held in Lincolnshire in May.