A PAIR of adrenaline junkies from Colchester are travelling to the other side of the world to represent Great Britain at an international extreme sports competition.
Landscapers Konnor Oughton, 23, and Daniel Thorpe, 21, fly to Taiwan next week in preparation for the G&G World Cup, the most prestigious airsoft competition in the world.
Essentially a more realistic version of paintball, airsoft arms players with realistic BB guns and tasks them with beating opposing teams at a number of different objectives.
The competition itself will see two teams from 25 different countries battle it out for a chance to win some tasty prize money as well as the acclaim for their nation.
Former Thomas Lord Audley student Mr Oughton said: "We are definitely the youngest team at the competition.
"I think we have a chance. The second team from the UK, who are from Cornwall, have come in sixth position before.
"We'll be doing interviews whilst there and there is lots of media coverage, it is massive over there."
Since its invention in Japan in the seventies airsoft has continued to grow, particularly in the Far East.
The sport is hugely popular in Asia and parts of the G&G World Cup are broadcast on YouTube during and after the event.
Mr Oughton says the sport is becoming more popular in the UK but is still something of a secret in comparison to its hugely popular cousin paintball.
He said: "I got involved with a couple of friends. We started going paintballing and they had an airsoft course.
"Me and Daniel went to the national event in Bournemouth and there was a competition there for the the team GB position.
"We did a couple of runs and we were in the top ten. We did a couple more and realised we were actually quite good at it.
"It is brilliant fun but I don't feel it is advertised properly otherwise it would be a lot bigger.
"There is a lot of tension involved as you don't want to get shot because it hurts."
At the G&G World Cup teams battle it out over five courses with different objectives. The pair with the highest score can win prize money of £20,000 to share and there are prizes for the second and third place teams too.
The pair's trip out to Taipei, where the competition takes place from July 19 and 21, and equipment is being sponsored by British firms ZeroOne and Viper.
Mr Oughton said: "It really is a privilege to take part and going to Taiwan is incredible.
"We are flying out there a few days before to acclimatise.
"It will be a once in a lifetime experience for us."
You can follow the lads' progress on Instagram by searching konnor444.
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