You all just missed the one in NYC (held on May 16th) but it’s not too late to make reservations (and grow some beard) for the 2007 competition! Bernst- with your gray santa clause beard I think you’d be a perfect candidate. Â
The next World Beard and Moustache Championships will take place in Brighton, England, on September 1, 2007, to be hosted by London’s world-famous Handlebar Club. Click here for all of the latest information, straight from the Handlebar Club. In 2009, the WBMC moves to Anchorage, Alaska. Anchorage was the successful bidder in the recent selection process conducted by the World Beard and Moustache Association.    At the most recent WBMC held in Berlin, Germany, on October 1, 2005, Germany won gold in 14 of the 17 categories.  There were 243 competitors from 20 different countries, including Australia, India, Albania, Scotland, Tunisia, Poland, and France, all making their first appearances in the history of the WBMC.     This time, there was no overall winner, consistent with the regulations of the Association of German Beard Clubs. The crowd favorite and star of the evening was Elmar Weisser of the Swabian Beard Club, who whose hirsute representation of the Brandenburg Gate earned him first place in the freestyle full beard category.Â
    Host for this event was the Berlin Beard Club, which pulled out all of the stops to provide the contestants and spectators with an unforgettable experience. The host club’s star member Karl-Heinz Hille, overall champion in Carson City, Nevada in 2003 and in Ystad, Sweden in 1999, won gold in the Imperial Cheek Beard category. Other new world champions from the host club were Max Pankow in the Dali Moustache category and Jürgen Draheim in the Musketeer category.    America’s new world champion is Toot Joslin, who took top honors in the Sideburns category. Meanwhile 21-year-old rookie Jack Passion finished third in the highly competitive full beard natural category. Other Americans who made the podium were Jeff Well (third place, Dali), Bruce Roe (third place, Wild West), and Frank Madera (third place, Garibaldi).Â
    On October 3, the contestants appeared on stage in front of the Brandenburg Gate during the annual celebration commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall and the historic reunification of East and West Germany. Â
   Unlike the Olympics, with its highly-competitive qualifying tournaments, strict drug regulations, and gender testing, this truly unique, off-beat public event is open to everyone willing to support his or her country.  Well, at least everyone with a beard or moustache. In fact, it is almost unpatriotic not to grow a beard or moustache and enter the competition.