German takes top honors in World Beard Championships

CARSON CITY, Nevada, Nov 2 (AFP) - A German with snow-white sideburns sweeping gracefully outward 20 centimeters (eight inches) from his face overcame strong competition to win the Sixth World Beard and Moustache Championships here.

In a silver-gray morning suit and top hat to highlight his whiskers, Berlin native Karl Heinz Hille beat a field of 130 sporting beards shaped into fantastic twisting whorls and rapier-like moustaches to gain the title World Champion.

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"I feel as happy as a pig in mud," said Hille, who also won the category for Imperial-shaped whiskers.

Competitors from ten nations vied for honors in 17 categories of beard, sideburn and moustache fashions in the Nevada state capitol on Saturday.

The categories ranged from the brooding Chinese Fu Manchu style to suave musketeer moustache-and-goatee combos, to the incredible inventions in the freestyle classes.

The best-whiskered winners garnered trophies and bragging rights, though no financial reward.

It was the first time the biennial contest has been held outside of Europe, and as expected, it was dominated by a 56-strong contingent of Germans, who launched the first championship in 1990.

"In Germany we have the best knowledge of styling," said Jurgen Burkhardt of Leinfelden-Echterdingen, a former grand world champion.

But Americans made a stronger showing than expected, capturing four of the 17 category championships.

Sporting a thick, long brown beard and a bearskin hat, Dave Traver of Anchorage, Alaska surprised many by taking the hotly-contested full natural beard class.

He then went on to capture second runner-up in the overall grand championship.

"I'm ecstatic," said Traver, a veterans administration official who was named "Mr. Fur Face" in an Alaska state-wide beard competition in 2000.

Overwhelming crowd favorite Alf Jarrald, at 82 the oldest competitor, took first-runner-up honors in the grand champion race.

With his salt-and-pepper sideburns curling in large ovals at his cheeks, the London native earlier also won the general sideburns category.

Although featuring a generous amount of beer-drinking and a rousting polka band, the competition was serious and tightly fought.

Many competitors arose before dawn to begin shaving, preening, waxing and blow-drying their beards into competitive shape.

Jurg Biland of Switzerland spent nearly two hours preparing his waxed moustache, which stretched 1.45 meters (five feet, nine inches) from tip to tip, making it nearly impossible to walk through a crowd.

They also donned authentic period costumes to match the styles they chose.

Reinhard Burcker of Tubingen, Germany, wore a blue 17th century swordsman's costume, with a long cutlass at his side, to go with his long, thin musketeer moustache and narrow goatee.

To match with his "English-style" moustache, spanning some 40 centimeters (16 inches), Berlin native Lutz Giese wore an 18th century uniform of the British admiralty.

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