A crew of skaters were rewarded for a decade of dedication after winning a national competition.

Soap Skateboards emerged as winners of this year’s Lord of the Swords amateur skate film competition.

The group who skate in Burnham-on-Crouch and South Woodham Ferrers created their film which saw them complete a host of challenges in skateparks through Essex.

The team also completed a range of extra challenges off their boards, which included buying flowers for a lady who maintained a skatepark in Saffron Walden.

Joe Gold, 20, a member of the team, said: “We were given a booklet full of different skate parks across Essex.

“We had to go around taking on the challenges that were set in the competition and you get points for each challenge you do and how well you do them.

“We filmed everything we did and compiled them into a short film.

“It was great fun taking on the challenges. We had six of us taking part.”

The competition was created in 2010 by a group of skateboarders who were part of a committee trying to bring a new skate park to Chelmsford.

The name was inspired by the three swords of the Essex county badge.

The Soap Skateboards team was made up of Joe and his friends; Joe George, Tom Prendergast, Steven Percival, Liam Williams and Jack Mead.

They were accompanied by Kane Baudart who filmed the team over a tough weekend.

Kane then had just four weeks to put together the film and submit to Lord of the Swords.

Joe added: “We have always skated together, we entered the competition last year but there were only two of us that had the time to do it.

“This year, everyone was in the same place, so it made it much easier to do the challenges.

The 17-minute film follows the skaters as they travelled to the skateparks and attempted the challenges all day and night and in rain.

The challenge was not straightforward for the group.

While on their journey, they suffered multiple injuries, were forced to undertake eating challenges and they got into arguments and battles with other skaters at the parks.

The team never let the issues stop them from completing the challenge, and their film was finally released in September.

After a month of voting, they were invited to the awards night on October 13 at Urbside, a DIY skatepark in Great Dunmow.

After Soap left the park as winners, Joe was proud of all the work his team has put in for many years.

Joe said: “I started skating when I was around ten-years-old, and I have been with these guys the whole time.

“I’m one of the youngest but there are people in the team who are around 25.”

You can find out more about Soap Skateboards online at www.soapskateboards.co.uk