A trio from Loughborough College came first in the Country Range Student Chef Challenge, beating nine other teams in a competition held at Hotelympia in London.

Daniella Bromley, Emily Bucknall and Rebecca Brooks (under chef lecturer Darren Creed) were the first all-female winners in the event’s 22-year history.

The Challenge targets teams of three full-time student chefs studying hospitality or catering courses across the UK and requires the preparation, cooking and presentation of a three-course, two-cover menu created around a theme.

This year’s competition, run in conjunction with the Craft Guild of Chefs, required contestants to go ‘freestyle’ by presenting a menu embracing “the modern trend for clean, well-portioned and precisely executed cooking”. Menus had to be produced using a maximum of £8 worth of ingredients per cover.

A team from Westminster Kingsway College won the silver medal and students from the City of Glasgow College took bronze.

The gold medal team receive a five-day work experience week assisting the Craft Guild of Chefs culinary team at the Culinary Olympics in Germany.

Country Range Group managing director Coral Rose (pictured with the winning team) said: “The standard this year was incredibly high. We are extremely proud to sponsor this prestigious competition and are honoured to be able to champion the chefs of the future.”

Tel: Country Range Group (0845) 209 3777