Winners by a whisker: Behind the scenes at the world?s wackiest beard and moustache competitio

Winners by a whisker: Behind the scenes at the world?s wackiest beard and moustache competitio

Mangalore Today / Mail

In the world of extreme beard sculpting, all you need is a good set of mini curlers, a generous dollop of wax and plenty of bravado... and the results can be fan-tash-tic.

Welcome to the World Beard and Moustache Championship, held this year in Trondheim, Norway.

But this time’s runaway winner wooed judges with a creation that gave him what can only be described as an un-hair advantage.

German hairdresser Elmar Weisser,47, beat 160 hopefuls after transforming his whiskers into a Norwegian flag and a moose.

 

 

Un-hair advantage: German hairdresser Elmar Weisser, 47, beat 160 hopefuls after transforming his whiskers into a Norwegian flag and a moose

He started at 7am, and only just finished in time with the help of his sister. He told the AFP news agency: ’When my beard isn’t styled, it goes down to my waist. It is sort of folded up.’

The competition veteran has won before. In 2005 he scooped the prize in Berlin with his hairy recreation of the Brandenburg Gate.

 

 

Painstaking: Germany’s Gerhard Knapp prepares his beard for the Full Beard Freestyle event.

 

 

Delicate: Germany’s Pia Weis prepares her husband Hans-Peter for the Full Beard Freestyle event.

In it together: Germany’s Gerhard Knapp, right, prepares his teammate’s beard ahead of the competition

And two years later he took it a step further with a bristly interpretation of London’s Tower Bridge.

He didn’t compete in 2009’s event in Alaska.

The athletes are split into six categories: natural, English, Dali, Hungarian, imperial - and freestyle.

Fan-tash-tic: Dieter Besuch of Germany, left,  poses after winning the Partial Beard Freestyle category, while fellow countryman Karl-Heinze Hille, right, poses after winning first place in the Imperial Partial Beards category

Close call: Britain’s Jake Crage made a valiant effort with his moustache, left, but how could he compete with the likes of America’s Bill Mitchell who took home the Sideburns Freestyle prize, right

The event, which began in 1995, has been lauded by its organisers as ’the premier event in the international sport of bearding’.

Outside the beard stakes, the 14 categories include natural goatee, sideburns freestyle, Hungarian moustache and imperial partial beard.

The partial beard category is also divided into natural, Chinese, Imperial, Musketeer, sideburns, and freestyle categories.

Moustache-buckling: Jurgen Draheim of Germany, left, won the Musketeer category, while Johan Dominic, right, of the US took the Moustache Imperial crown.

Chinese and Garibaldi: Lutz Giese of Germany, left, won the Chinese category and Fritz Sendlhofer of Austria, right, poses as he won the first place of the Garibaldi category

Burke Kenny of the US poses after winning first place of the Full Beard Natural w/styled Moustache category.   Tongue tied: Rooty Lundvall of the US sticks out his tounge after he competes in the Full Beard Natural category.   Well Finnished: A participant from Finland competes in the Moustache Dali Category

 

 

Scraggly: This competitor seems to like his curls.  Kaiser: This unnamed athlete looks anything but curl-ish.  Scary: You wouldn’t want this one to look daggers at you