Were you on Bettystown Beach for the National Sandcastle & Sandsculpting competition?
Thousands of people descended on sun-soaked Bettystown beach on Sunday hoping to catch a glimpse of massive gorillas, sea monsters and hippos.
The 15th annual Sandcastle and Sand Sculpting Championships took place on the popular Meath coastline with a record number of visitors viewing the vast array of imaginative creations built from sand. With junior family and senior categories the competition was fierce but friendly as buckets, spades, trowels and water were all put to use to make everything from sleeping dogs to dragons to fierce vikings.
The Sandcastle and Sculpting Competition and beach festival began in 2003 and has grown steadily each year since. The Dick O'Reilly Perpetual Cup was presented to the overall winners who were Carmel and Eva O'Byrne from Kells (below) for their magnificient Lions sculpture which was presented by Cathaoirleach of Meath County Council Gerry O'Connor.
SEE THE FULL PHOTO GALLERY HERE
Refreshments were sponsored by Harry's Centra in Mornington and Boyne Valley Foods Drogheda.
The National Sandcastles and Sand Sculpturing Festival organisers want to thank the following sponsors:
Roger and Liz Pickett for sponsorship of first prize in the national sculpture competition. Mr Jimmy Gilna from the Cottage Inn Laytown for sponsoring the Junior Sculpturing. A big thank you also to Patrick and Margaret Smith Riverside Home and Gift Mornington, for sponsorship of the Family Prizes in the National Sandcastle Competition. Other sponsors included: 'FLAG' The Fisheries Local Action Group, Tresses and Tallons of Bettystown, The Sunflower Cafe Laytown, Smiths's Ice Cream and Art and Hobby Navan. The organisers wish to thank Cllr Sharon Tolan, Cllr Eimer Ferguson, Cllr Tom Kelly and Cllr Paddy Meade for sponsorship and support for the event.
A very special note of thanks to Dick O Reilly's wife Eileen for her sponsorship of the Dick O'Reilly Perpetual cup it is much appreciated and serves as a wonderful reminder to all that the sand festival was Dick's idea. He wanted to showcase the wonderful amenity that is our beaches. This cup is presented each year to the individual or team who showed or displayed best effort on the day.
The judges for the senior sculpturing where Pat Wogan from Slane and Joe Lawler local artist from Donnacarney. The junior sculptors were judged by Mel Bradley from Bettystown and Kim Reilly also local artists. The Sandcastles judges included Alice Duff, Rachel Reynolds, Sean McCabe, Susan Doorley and Alan Watson all local volunteers.
The Dick O'Reilly Perpetual Cup was presented to : Carmel and Eva O'Byrne from Kells Co Meath. They were the Junior Sculpture Winners for 2017
The winners in all categories were as follows:
Senior sculpturing
1st prize went to The Duff Family from Bettystown - 'Gorilla'
2nd prize went to Greg Szmigiel, Navan - 'Horse'
3rd prize went to Krista and Eva Oliver, Drogheda - 'Differences'
Junior Sculpturing
1st prize when to Careml and Eva O'Byrne, Kells - 'Lion'
2nd prize went to Alex and Alex Albert, Spain. - 'Turtle'
3rd prize went to Dillon John, Bettystown - 'Fidget Spinner'
Under 5's
1st prize went to Ryan Keeley, Grangerath 2nd prize went to Alex Murphy, Santry 3rd prize went to Luke and Ann Black, Bettystown
Under 8's
1st prize when to Ryan, Bettystown
2nd prize went to Alice Gallagher, Stamullen 3rd prize went to Fin Lavelle, Bettystown
Under 13's
1st prize went to Arthur Niclos, Lucan
2nd prize went to Brown, Mornington
3rd prize went to James Loughrey, Dublin
Family Category
1st prize was won by The Kearns Family, Termonfeckin 2nd prize was won by The Robinson Family, Laytown 3rd prize was won by The Chilton Family, Laytown
The organisers want to say a special note of thanks to Meath County Council and The Beach Warden for their assistance with the event. Thank you also to the East Meath Cardiac First Responder Unit for their assistance in marking out the beach for the event and for First Aid cover on the day. The organisers, Martina Maguire and Susan Watson want to express their deep appreciation to all of the volunteers who gave up their Sunday for a fabulous family day out.
Check out the Facebook page for photographs of this year's festival and past events. The website is www.nationalsandcastles.ie Martina and Susan of the organising team ask that anyone who was on the beach for the festival and took any photographs of sandcastles or sculptures to please share on their Facebook Page - Sandcastles Bettystown. The 15th Annual Sand Festival was a great success 'Biggest Crowd Ever' and looking forward already to 2018.