Earthquake Stops New Zealand Sandcastle Competition, Local Teams Were to Compete

The 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck near Christchurch, New Zealand, earlier this week has so far claimed about 100 lives, and tore down buildings including the city's iconic church steeple.

Rescue attempts are still being carried out by local authorities, and hundreds are missing and presumed trapped beneath the rubble of fallen or damaged buildings.

Sadly, the earthquake also resulted in the postponement or cancellation of the first Inaugural New Zealand Sand Castle Competition, which was scheduled to be held March 4-6 on Christchurch's New Brighton Beach, not far from the quake's epicenter.

Four members of I.B.Posse, first-place winners of last year's U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition in Imperial Beach, and three members of the sandcastle building team Archisand planned to fly to the island nation to compete.

"We've been told by the contest [organizers] that we shouldn't come because it's very dangerous there," said IB Posse team captain Leonard Gonzales.

"We would like to still go to New Zealand but we need to wait and see what happens," Gonzales said. "Clearly they're not [organizers] in a position yet to make that kind of determination."

"Right now who knows what's going to happen," said Arhisand team captain Greg LeBon. "They likely don't have water, sewage and most of the utilities aren't working."

Non-refundable plane tickets team members purchased cost between $,1400-$1,800 each, Gonzales said.

The first Inaugural New Zealand Sandcastle Competition was put together very much like the U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition. The three-day event was to include a sandcastle ball, kid's day and professional competition.