THE UK's refrigeration hopes are pinned on Matthew Lander, the nation's bright, young refrigeration engineer tasked with winning this coveted category at World Skills.
The 39th World Skills competition will be held from November 15-18 in Shizuoka, Japan and Refrigeration is one of the 48 skills competing nations hope to be crowned the best at.
Lander has undergone 18 months of olympic-style training and tests requiring motivational, physical, mental and dietary focus from the man who was picked from thousands of UK students to represent his country on the world stage.
Lander was chosen at the UK selection competition Skillfridge with the help of the Institute of Refrigeration, ACRIB and SummitSkills, the national sector skills council covering refrigeration and air
conditioning.
World Skills organisers are preparing for 836 competitors from 45 countries. The opening ceremony will take place on November 14, with the competition itself lasting four days involving 47 skills categories before the closing ceremony on November 21.
RAC students must be working towards or have completed an S/NVQ level 2 and be under 21 at the time of this month's World Skills competition.
At World Skills, Lander's challenges include a timed air conditioning and cold room installation, as well as electrical fault finding, pipebending and brazing exercises.
Lander himself has witnessed his percentage score rise from a 50% average to a world stage-beating 85%. The young engineer's skills have grown with the help of his employee Crowther and Shaw.
The nations with the largest number of participants are Japan (163) followed by Korea (153) and Canada (138). The UK is sending a national team of 36 to the competition.
For details of entry process for the 2009 World Skills in Calgary, Canada see the ACRIB website at
www.acrib.org.uk/