Young Sam Morrison was the pride of South Woodham & Wickford's rollerspeed skaters after scooping second prize in a European inter-club event in Belgium.

Sam clinched a magnificent trophy in the contest, sponsored by Essex firm ECL Consultants Ltd, with eight South Woodham team-mates also competing.

He came third, first and second twice in his four races in the minimen section of the two-day event.

Billy Moore, contesting the same section, earned four fifth places, finishing in that position overall.

Chanelle Moore ended up ninth of the 14 racers in the pupillen girls category, with results of seventh, sixth and two thirds. The equivalent boys section saw all three South Woodham skaters finish in the top ten.

Jonathan Wallis was fourth (a third and three fifths), Gary Moore fifth (seventh, sixth, third and third), and Sam Vickers tenth (14th, 15th, tenth and ninth).

The hot conditions proved tough for Sara Wallis in the kadetten girls group, where she came 16th out of 20, coming both 18th and 15th twice.

Hard work took Jonathon Morrison to tenth place in the event's biggest section, the boys' kadetten, which attracted 25 skaters. He came 11th, 14th, ninth and ninth.

Helen Warlow was 13th in a field of 15 in the Junior and Senior ladies 20km road race.

Next up is a meeting in Birmingham on August 8 and a contest in Ostend, Belgium, from August 13-15.

Sunny Sam - silver winner Sam Morrison (front) is beaming as he joins fellow young racers at the South Woodham skating club

Picture: MAXINE CLARKE

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.