Chelmsford Riverside Ice Centre's skating star Clive Shorten won gold for his short and long programme in Saturday's Senior Men's British Figure Skating Cham-pionships held at Milton Keynes, helping to make it a triple medal success for the local club.

Clive, 29, trains at the Chelmsford rink under Russian coach Viktor Teslia, who also coached Daniel Thomas and Katie Wenger to a silver medal and Michael Aldred and Sarah Kemp to a bronze medal in the Senior British Pairs at the same championships.

For Clive, a member of the Chelmsford Figure Skating Club, it was the culmination of months of hard work with Viktor to win the prestigious title and Clive will now be looking for further success in January when he represents the UK in the European Championship.

Clive has been skating since he was a young boy and began his career in pairs skating, but four years ago he made the decision to go solo.

Two years ago he began training with Viktor at Riverside Ice and Leisure Centre here in Chelmsford.

The support of Riverside Ice and Leisure Centre Manager Kevin Reed, and the National Lottery money awarded to Clive last year, should both be recognised for helping to fuel this success.

Viktor was brought to England from Russia four years ago specifically to train the senior skaters at the Chelmsford.

Daniel and Katie won their medal only five months into their skating partnership. Michael and Sarah won their medal only two months after beginning training.

Daniel is a a typical home grown success, because his first experience of skating was at Riverside Ice Rink, while Katie has moved to England to train and skate with Daniel from the USA.

Clive Shorten - gold medal winner at the British Figure Skating Championships on Saturday.

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