One way to have a girls' knight out!

Cat and Joanne Booth, from Hambleton, fought in the Battle of the Nations , the world championship for historical medieval battle, in Italy.

The contact sport sees people don medieval armour and pummel each other with swords, shields, maces, and other Middle Ages weaponry.

Cat, 31, (inset) said: “The objective is to be the last man standing.

“Five fighters from each team go into a round and the objective is to get the other team on 
the floor. You can fight with swords and shields, you can have a halberd. You can carry an axe of a mace, or you can carry a two-handed weapon.

“Joanne fights with a type of sword called a falchion. I fight with a mace and shield.

“We lift a lot of weights and do a lot of cardio training.

“The armour weighs about 30kg. You need the stamina to keep going round after round, because if you’re wearing it most of the day it starts to get quite heavy.”

The sisters, who are both nurses, formed part of the first British female team to take part in the world championships.

They beat teams from France, Argentina and Australia, but lost to Russia and Ukraine.

Cat said: “It’s a real adrenaline rush. There’s something about getting into armour. Me and my sister are big historical fanatics anyway.

“We have a lot of fun and there’s the opportunity to travel around a lot. We’ve got lots of friends in teams in other countries now. It’s a great social gathering.”