A trio of barbecue enthusiasts are hoping to raise some cash to fund a trip to America to compete in a world championship competition.

The team, which includes Stuart Mathwig, from Little Paxton, and Mike Derry and Connor Dornan, from Belfast, entered a pit masters competition at the Big Grill Festival in Dublin last summer, which saw competitors from England, Europe and Ireland barbecuing over three days. The win meant the team of five were entered into the Jack Daniels’ World Championships Invitational Barbecue competition in Lynchburg, Tennessee, which takes place on October 22.

Although there are five members, only Stuart, Mike and Connor will travel to America, but they need to raise about £10,000 to fund the trip.

“It really is a very big deal. Not only one of the biggest in the US but also the world. It involves hundreds of teams and judges from all over the US and the world and up to 30,000 fans over three days. We are very proud to have been given this opportunity to go and compete on such a huge stage in America.”

“As you would expect, however, the undertaking of attending and competing in such a huge event so far away from home is daunting from a logistical and financial standpoint, it is for this reason we have both been advised by organisers, previous competitors and decided amongst ourselves to seek sponsorship to add to our own fundraising ideas in order to finance the event. The main issues being that we cannot really ship over our barbecue equipment.”

Stuart and his team have set up a GoFundMe account, if you would like to sponsor them, go to: INFO: www.gofundme.com/2q587tqk.

More information at: www.jackdanielsbarbecuemedia.com.