By John Cousins
Attitude triumphed over goose bumps when 17-year-old Hannah Perry wowed a huge crowd to be crowned Miss Mount Maunganui yesterday.
Huddling and shivering in chilly conditions off-stage with the other contestants, she transformed into a stunning beach beauty the moment she was introduced to the highly appreciative crowd of
nearly 2500.
They yelled their support for Hannah, who has lived at the Mount all her life and works for Bras N Things at Bayfair Shopping Centre.
The true-blue Mountie was clearly in familiar territory and, spurred on by her many friends in the crowd, Hannah displayed all the pizzazz needed to win over the judges and take home $1000 in prize money.
Yet she might never have enjoyed the delight of being crowned if her friend Ashleigh had not dared her to enter.
``I was sort of pressured into it.''
What started out as a bit of a joke gained momentum until she finally gained enough courage to take the plunge.
Buoyed up by the banter of contest announcer Brendon Weatherley from 89.8ZM, she breezed into the top six, who then mingled with the crowd for 10 minutes.
After returning to the stage, the finalists were pretty much decided by popular acclaim and after that it was down to the judges, who included Miss Mount Maunganui 1985, Colleen Hart of Tauranga.
Second placegetter was 23-year-old Carly Ryan (Auckland) and third was 16-year-old Erica Smith (Mount Maunganui). The top six received $200 bikinis from Moontide and a ZM ``goodies bag''.
Hannah hasn't decided how to spend her $1000 but thinks she might spend it on an overseas trip.
