JEDDAH, 14 May 2004 — A beauty contest for camels was held recently in Hayaniya village, 190 km north of Baqaa in the Hail region, attracting more than 5,000 people from the Kingdom.
Some 2,500 camels were entered in the rare contest to win the Prince Sultan ibn Muhammad Cup.
Competitions were held for four types of camels with 100 camels (25 in each category) declared winners. Cash prizes worth SR600,000 were distributed by Jedaie ibn Awad Laghaisem on behalf of Prince Sultan at the end of the event.
The contest was held over three days, turning Hayaniya village into a virtual city because of the large inflow of camel fans from various parts of the country, Al-Watan reported. Many people have asked the organizers to make it an annual event. An auction for camels was also held. One camel received a bid of SR2 million but its owner refused to sell it, the paper said.
According to Farhan Al-Shammary, a participant, the jury selected the winners on the basis of the size of the camel’s head, length of its lips and shape of its hump in addition to its strength.
