Elliot Sheppard and Thomas Bowden from Bressingham Primary School were winners of the Diss area heat of the Junior Engineers Knex Challenge at Thurlow Nunn's showroom in Diss.

Elliot Sheppard and Thomas Bowden from Bressingham Primary School were winners of the Diss area heat of the Junior Engineers Knex Challenge at Thurlow Nunn's showroom in Diss. Daniel Yallop and Alex Rackham from Roydon Primary School were runners up.

The winners and runners up go through to the county final to be staged at Hethel Engineering Centre on May 6.

Eighteen teams representing nine schools took part in the Thurlow Nunn heat. The young engineers, all aged between 9 and 11, working in pairs, had an hour to solve an engineering problem and create a model out of Knex. They then had to give a short presentation to explain their design.

Elliot Sheppard and Thomas Bowden said: "We are very happy. We are always designing things and practised at school before the challenge."

Norfolk's eventual winner and runner-up, out of an entry of 126 teams representing 63 schools, will take part in the Eastern region final at Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford on July 3. The Eastern region winner will go forward to the national final at Duxford on July 15.

The Exchange (Norfolk Education Business Partnership) runs the Junior Engineers Knex Challenge in Norfolk. The challenge is promoted nationally by Young Engineers, www.youngeng.org and Hasbro and is aimed at young school students aged between 7 and 11.

Jason Pearson, assistant manager Thurlow Nunn said: It has been a great afternoon and we are pleased to be involved in such a good challenge."

Anita Cullen from The Exchange said: "Each team worked really hard and came up with some excellent designs. We wish Elliot and Thomas and Daniel and Alex luck in the county final."