Over 40 roofers from 12 countries descended on Belfast's King's Hall last week to compete in the 23rd IFD World Championships for Young Roofers, over a challenging three day competition that brought together the best in the industry.

The British team of Mark McAvoy (25) and Neil Armstrong (23), sponsored by Velux, were competing in the flat roofing category and were last wekend celebrating a second place finish after being narrowly beaten by the Swiss team.

The two roofers showed flair, composure and skill, as teams from Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Hungary, Ireland, Slovakia, Poland and Russia all battled it out in pitched, flat and metal roofing competitions.

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The two British roofers were happy with their efforts and paid tribute to the support they received.

Mark McAvoy said: "Neil and I are delighted with our second place finish. We were making great time on Wednesday and rallied together to finish on a high on Thursday. We have already received great feedback from our friends, family and most importantly our employers. There's no doubt the training and support provided by Velux helped us achieve this success and the support throughout the competition really helped motivate us."

Jody Wyse from Velux said: "Velux is at the forefront of training and development for young roofers and has been delighted to be able to support such a talented pair of roofers in Mark and Neil. We're committed to up-skilling and training young people in the industry through the Velux Training Academy and across our ongoing UK training programme and we have no doubt that the British teams will continue to challenge the world's best roofers."

See: Carrick Tradesman Is 'Gold Medal Roofer'

(CD/BMcC)