Chrystal takes contest in her stride

Are these the Bay's best legs? They could well be after Chrystal Marshall entered in a national best legs competition and almost fetched the national crown.

Miss Marshall, a graphic designer at Evolution Clothing and recent secondary school teaching graduate, picked up third place in the competition run by New Zealand hosiery company CXC in search of a new model for their StepOut brand of tights. She said she entered the competition on a whim after seeing the competition advertised on the tights' packaging in the supermarket.

"I'd emailed them [leg shots] in and then I'd completely forgotten about it," Miss Marshall said.

She later received confirmation that she had been selected as one of 12 finalists and was flown up to Auckland last week for the final modelling round, which included a runway show in a shopping mall in front of a judging panel made up of StepOut managing director Corinne Callinan, comedian Mike King and Olympian Barbara Kendall.

"It was real cool. I was pretty stoked, I didn't know what to expect. Coming third was pretty good," she said.

The experience of being flown to Auckland, dining out, having her make-up done and doing a catwalk made her feel like a New Zealand's Next Top Model contestant.

"That was what it felt like. It was real cool, there was an awesome bunch of girls up there."

Ms Callinan said the competition had been tight at the top. "We had more than 50 entries. Out of that we selected 12 finalists. It was really close, the top four were really close," she said.

The search for the model had been a success, she said. "It was fantastic. We had a pretty good turnout on the day of a couple of hundred people. It's been really rewarding. We could have gone to a modelling agency but I didn't want a model representing our brand, I wanted a real woman," she said.

Miss Marshall, who plays indoor netball and will represent Tauranga Moana in the Maori touch rugby national next month, said the prizes she won for her podium finish were a nice consolation.

"I just got free make-up and free tights and socks. And some sports socks and I play a lot of sport, so I was happy with that.

"I play touch and indoor netball. I have it every night of the week," she said.

The winner of the contest was Tania Roycroft, a 27-year-old dental assistant from Hamilton.