Competitors from Belgium joined the cream of England's clubs for the first international rollerspeed skating meeting in the UK for around 20 years.

Organised by South Wood-ham Ferrers and Wickford Rollerspeed Club, the two-day event saw two races being held each day in each category with the final positions taken from skater's performances in all four races.

Victoria Hodgkinson was up against four Belgian girls when she represented South Wood-ham in the mini girls' category. She finished fourth after getting a quartet of fourth places.

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

South Woodham results: Sam Morrison 1st (1, 1, 1, 2), Josh Chaplin 2nd (2, 3, 2, 1), Chris Mizen 5th (5, 8, 7, 6), Jake Watkins 9th (10, 11, 6, 8), Robert Whiting 10th (11, 10, 10, 9), Billy Moore 11th (6, 7, did not contest last two races).

Chanelle Moore competed in the pupil girls group against two girls from north London and came second with results of third, second, second and third.

South Woodham again had a strong turnout in the pupil boys category with seven out of the eight competitors coming from the club. The other was Thomas Beddows racing for Team Belotti UK out of Southend, who came second with a first, two seconds and a third.

South Woodham results: Gary Moore 1st (1,1,1,2), Jonathan Wallis 3rd (3, 3, 3, 3), Sam Gosling 4th (4, 4, 4, 4), Mark Burton 5th (6, 5, 5, 5), Sam Vickers 6th (5, 6, 6, 6), Richard Webb 7th (7, 7, 7, 7), Mark Mizen 8th (8, 8, 8, 8).

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

Sara Wallis came sixth for South Woodham with four sixth places, while Chloe Penman came eighth with three sevenths and one did not race.

In the cadet boys, Jonathan Morrison was South Wood-ham's best-placed skater, finishing fifth out of the eight with fifth, sixth, fourth and fifth.

Other South Woodham results: Adam Little 7th (7, 7, 7, 7), Michael Mizen 8th (8, 8, 8, 8).

The junior boys' group was an all-English affair of 11 skaters.

South Woodham results: Steve Outen 7th (7, 7, 6, 8), Mark Smith 8th (8, 8, 8, 7), Mat Richardson 9th (9, 9, 9, 9), Kevin Scott 10th (10, 10, 10, 10).

Clive Archer competed in the senior B men's group and took second place with two second and two fourth places. Nick McKenzie came fourth overall in the senior A for Team Belotti UK with two seconds a fourth and a fifth.

Speed kings - action from the senior A men's race

Picture: MAXINE CLARKE

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