The South Woodham Ferrers & Wickford Rollerspeed Skating Club hosted the first international rollerspeed skating meeting in the UK for about 20 years, over the weekend with skaters from Belgian clubs competing against most of the best from England's clubs.

Two races were held each day, and the final overall positions were taken from each skater's positioning in all four races.

In the mini girls category, Victoria Hodgkinson was up against four Belgian girls, and finished fourth having had results of four fourth places.

The mini boys category had a strong South Woodham presence, with six out of the 11 skaters coming from the host club.

Sam Morrison took top honours to win first place (1st, 1st, 1st and 2nd), with Josh Chaplin coming second (2nd, 3rd, 2nd and 1st).

Chris Mizen finished fifth (5th, 8th, 7th, 6th), Jake Watkins ninth (10th, 11th, 6th, 8th), Robert Whiting 10th (11th, 10th, 10th, 9th) and Billy Moore 11th (6th, 7th and did not race last two races).

Chanelle Moore competed in the pupil girls group against two girls from North London and two girls from Belgian clubs. She made the winners podium, coming second to split the two North London girls, with results of 3rd, 2nd, 2nd and 3rd.

The South Woodham club had a strong turnout in the pupil boys category, having seven of the eight competitors in this group, the other coming from Team Belotti UK, racing out of Southend.

Gary Moore took first place with results of 1st, 1st and 2nd, with club mate Jonathan Wallis joining him on the winners podium in third place, with four 3rd places.

Sam Gosling was fourth (four 4th places), Mark Burton fifth (6th, 5th, 5th, 5th), Sam Vickers sixth (5th, 6th, 6th, 6th), Richard Webb seventh (four 7th places) and Mark Mizen eighth (four 8th places).

The English girls found the going tough in the cadet girls group, with five of the eight competitors coming from Belgian clubs.

Sara Wallis finished sixth (four 6th places) and Chloe Penman eighth (7th, 7th, 7th and dnr).

In the cadet boys category, Jonathan Morrison was South Woodham's best placed skater, finished fifth (5th, 6th, 4th and 5th) out of the eight skaters. Adam Little was seventh (four 7th places) and Michael Mizen eighth (four 8th places).

The junior boys group was an all English affair of 11 skaters. Steve Outen finished seventh (7th, 7th, 6th and 8th), Mark Smith eighth (8th, 8th, 8th, 7th), Mat Richardson ninth (four 9th places) and Kevin Scott 10th (four 10th places).

Clive Archer competed in the senior B men's group and finished with race results of 2nd, 2nd, 4th and 4th, to get on to the winners podium, taking second place.

Thanks were extended to the club's main sponsors, ECL Consultants Ltd, and also VUC Ltd, Barclays Bank plc, Tescos, McDonalds and the other sponsors for their contributions.

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