They say lightning never strikes twice, but that certainly wasn’t the case at Blackwell Grange Golf Club yesterday as the Darlington course hosted The Northern Echo’s annual Local Heroes golf day.  Not only did two huge flashes of lightning bring a premature halt to play after the 13 competing teams had completed 16 holes, but last year’s champions also emerged victorious for the second year in succession.

The Sirius Group claimed an eight-point stableford victory to successfully defend the title they won 12 months ago. Given the weather, it was fitting that when they received The Northern Echo Charity Open trophy, modelled on The Open’s Claret Jug, the applause that echoed round the clubhouse was thunderous.

Sirius’ four-man team of Dan Dobson, Geoff Hunter, Phill Collings and Dave Worrall held their game together best as conditions gradually turned from tropical to torrential in the space of three hours. The fourball, comprising players from Darlington, Durham, Billingham and Yarm, finished comfortably clear of their closest challengers, Tyne Tees Crushing and Screening Ltd.  “It’s great to come back and win again,” said Collings, who also claimed an individual prize of a fourball at Blackwell Grange after winning the closest-to-the-18th-pin competition. “As soon as we won last year, we said we wanted to come back and defend our crown.  “You could tell the rain was coming from fairly early on, but it just about held off long enough to get a full round in.”