Contestants from the host country included Bruce Roe, the first American to win a trophy at these championships, as well as the six-time beard champion of the Iowa State Fair, Gary James Chilton.
Chilton, 60-something, took it on the chin-whiskers in Carson City, finishing fourth in the Full Beard Natural division. While his 1.04m salt-and-pepper beard hid his kneecaps, nothing could hide his displeasure.
"Yes, I was disappointed," said Chilton, a celebrity in his hometown of Sioux City, Iowa. "I didn't wear a costume, and that probably hurt me. But just based on sheer length, I should have won at least third place."
Chilton, whose beard recently celebrated its 26th birthday (that's how long it has gone unshaven), describes a man with a beard as "open-minded, nonjudgmental and a free spirit."
He describes a clean-shaven man as "someone who has been told what to do." He added, "The kind of man who walks around and says, `No, my wife wouldn't like that.'"
And a man with a mustache?
"Well, that's more of a compromise," Chilton said. "The wife wouldn't allow a full beard, but a mustache? Well, OK, honey."
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