Kings of the castle thanks to strongman tactics

IT'S taken them seven long years of trying, but a family from Guernsey have finally been crowned top sandcastle makers at Alderney Week's most traditional competition.

The seven-member-strong Mauger family, who hail from Torteval and St Peter Port, won best family group and a gold medal for producing the top overall sand sculpture.

They come to Alderney Week every year and on this holiday went all out with their 3D Olympic weightlifter design carved into the sand at Braye Beach.

The rules of the competition are that you can use only natural materials and any reference to the theme of this year's Alderney Week – The Games – was bound to stand you in good stead.

The Mauger team, headed by granddad Ken, drew around young Elliott Mauger's design and used a tiny spatula to carve out the muscle man's impressive abs.

'This is the best day ever,' said Lily Mauger.

'We've tried to win it for so long now and now we have. We love coming here anyway, but winning is brilliant.'

'My teeth were chattering when they were reading out the winning names,' added Elliott.

'I didn't think we would win.'

The team, said Ken, had drawn inspiration from reading the Olympics sports sections in newspapers.

'We picked something that was Olympic in theme but would be relatively easy to carve out.

'Everyone who has walked past has said what a great six-pack he has,' said Chandler Mauger.

'They were the hardest parts to do.'

Other impressive entries included an Olympic stadium, with fennel forming the grassy arena. Entrants were judged on originality, effort and how they interpreted the Olympic theme.

There were around 90 entries this year across six groups, including 37 in the family group. Organisers believe there were around 1,000 people on the beach for the competition.

'The standard of entries was very, very high and we think even more people entered than last year,' said organiser Patsy Ridgway.

'It was wonderful to see Braye Beach so full – there was such a buzz there with people taking part and just meandering about.

'There's been so much talk about the island being empty this Alderney Week, but we haven't had that impression at all.'