Stinging bee competition (Photo)

Two contestants at the competition

Whites are daring and we all know this. This picture is from a bee beard competition held annually in Canada where contestants are covered from head to upper torsos with up to 16,000 insects. The bees has to be sculpted into a particular shape before competitors take to the catwalk

Competitors at the annual event at Clovermead Adventure Farm in Ontario, Canada, lure swarms of bees by placing a caged queen bee around their neck. Beekeepers minimise the risk of contestants getting stung by keeping the colonies fed with sugar water or sedating the bees with smoke before they are allowed to join the beard. Winner and more pix after cut

This winner is judged by their weight, which is determined by placing the contestants on the scales before and after the bees settled on their faces.

Brazillian born Marenda Schipper, 20, was crowned this year’s bee beard champion with Justin Hiemstra named as crowd favourite. Ms Schipper had a beard weighing 2.2kg (5lb) and contained about 20,000 bees.She says she is not a beekeeper but a student specializing in agriculture business. This was her first time with a bee beard competition and has only been stung once which was a few years ago.

One of the contestants Smiling through the stings