Race Against the Tide: ‘Sculpting sand is more tiring than you think’

A woman competing on a new BBC show in which competitors sculpt sand art said it was a “brilliant” and “tiring” experience.

Athena Cauley Yu runs a stationery and calligraphy business in Bath, Somerset, and features in BBC Two’s Race Against the Tide alongside professional sand sculptor Rachel Stubbs.

The series sees seven teams battle it out to build spectacular sand sculptures before the tide washes them away in St Andrews, Scotland, with all episodes available on BBC iPlayer.

She said: “Someone on the production team actually contacted me and I was like, a hilarious sand sculpting competition? Yes, of course, I want to do that.”

Cauley Yu said she was headhunted for the programme as someone who had never tried sand sculpture before.

“The main reason I wanted to take part in Race Against The Tide was how utterly random and niche it sounded,” she said.

“I adore a bit of hands-on creativity and am very much all for doing the random fun thing when the opportunity arises.”