BRIAN Fogarty and Jack Hindle were on fine form as they won the UK Fire Fighters 2up Duathlon.

Fogerty, 31, of Blackburn, and Hindle, 17, of Darwen, came home first in a time of one hour 51 minutes and 29 seconds.

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That was almost two minutes clear of their triathlon coach Rodger Wilkins, who is also from Blackburn, and his race partner Alex Foster.

Fogarty and Hindle, who compete for Fogarty’s Insurance Triathlon Team (FITT), had to run and cycle within 20 metres of each other, as did the rest of the field, or risk disqualification.

The annual event, which attracted 153 pairs, took place around Rivington Country Park with competitors climbing up through The Chinese Gardens which were developed in the 1930s on Lord Leverhulme’s Estate.

Once the first run was completed it was the challenging bike leg, climbing over Sheephouse Lane to Belmont before taking in the villages of Abbey Village and Wheelton, before the climb over Anglezarke Moor and back to the transition at Rivington & Blackrod High School to don their trail shoes again to test their fitness to the limit.

After the first run, Wilkins and Foster had a slender five-second lead before Hindle, who is a student at Runshaw College, and Fogarty, who works in his family insurance business, went into overdrive on the bikes to lead by almost three minutes.

But while it was a lead that was to be cut to two minutes on the second run, it was not seriously challenged.

Third place went to Tom van Rossum and Keiran Savage, a further five minutes behind.

The first mixed pairing was Steph Mottram and Paul Clucas of Humberside Fire Service in 2hr 15mins 43secs with sisters Natalie and Jennifer Batey of Tyne & Wear Fire Service being the fastest female pairing in 2hrs 20mins 57secs.

The event was organised by Epic Events.