Chelmsford Pro-Am Kickboxing Club and its associated Chelmsford Junior and Chelmsford Young Adults Kickboxing Clubs recently returned from a successful weekend.

Members won many of the trophies on offer at the 1998 WUMA National Kickboxing and Martial Arts Championships.

Laurence Sandum, senior instructor to all three age group clubs took his team and supporters to the Cheltenham Recreation Centre.

Chelmsford competed against clubs from all over Great Britain through hard and spirited rounds to find the 1998 national champions.

This WUMS (World United Martial Arts Federation) event was an open competition in semi contact points fighting and light contact continuous fighting.

It was not just open to WUMA affiliated clubs but to any martial arts club in Great Britain to pit their martial arts skills to find the true British Champions.

The Chelmsford competitors have again helped to place Chelmsford on the map as one of Britain's leading town's for kickboxing and as a result, Chelmsford's Chief Instructor, Laurence Sandum's clubs are now proudly sponsored by the 'Malones Diner' chain of restaurants.

Warren Hunt, who took second place in the Mens Heavyweight division, while in the Mens 80Kg category where John Clarke had to settle for fourth place, having to pull out due to an injury.

Congratulations were extended to the following competitors, many receiving a mixture of second, thirds and fourth trophies in their respective weight categories: Leo Elward, Manolies Diamandakis, Mike Weaver, Paul Dugdale, Raja Poselay and David Farmer.

This year a new category was also entered, that of 'self defence', a category involving two people giving a three minute demonstration on self defence.

Laurence Sandum and his fellow instructor Paul Cudmore, from Maldon,won first place.

The under 16s from Chelmsford Junior and Young Adults kickboxing Club showed potential for the future, and Matt Cunningham was second in the under 16s Light Continuous Contact category, battling well before losing to a more experienced fighter.

Lee Cochrane, 13, after just one month of training, had a rewarding day by winning his first fight and putting up a good close performance in the second round.

Chelmsford Pro-Am kickboxing and Self Defence Club for adults is based at Anglia Polytechnic Sports Hall, Park Road, Chelmsford. Adult training times are Mondays 8pm-9.30pm, Wednesdays 7pm-8pm, Saturdays 2.30-4pm and Sundays 11am-12noon.

Classes for juniors and teenagers are held at Great Baddow Parish Hall, and anybody interested in learning more about this martial art is invited to telephone Laurence Sandum on 01245 224809.

Pictured displaying their trophies and gold embossed competitors certificates from the WUMA Championships in Cheltenham, with Laurence Sandum, are team members Warren Hunt, Leo Elward, John Clarke, Raja Poselay, Paul Dugdale, David Farmer, Mike Weaver, Manolies Diamandakis, Matt Cunningham and Lee Cochrane.

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