ANCHORAGE, Alaska — David Traver didn’t expect to win the freestyle category in the World Beard and Moustache Championships. But he did.
The Anchorage man certainly didn’t think he’d go on to be crowned champ of the international competition that salutes those with the fanciest whiskers. But he was.
“Kind of cool,” said Traver, 43, who normally competes in the full beard category but decided to do something different in the freestyle category — very different. He and a stylist worked for more than an hour to get his long beard woven into the shape of a snow shoe.
The judges went for it.
“No American has ever placed in the freestyle let alone won it,” Traver said Sunday.
Nearly 300 competitors from more than a dozen countries competed. The competition is divided into 17 categories: eight styles of mustaches, four varieties of partial beard or goatee and five kinds of full beards.
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