Belcher won the same class at the Gisborne-hosted East Coast show last month and last year won the novice athletic title at the Hawke's Bay Athletic Show. He doesn't intend competing again until the Hawke's Bay and Wellington shows are staged next year.
"I need to put on some more kilograms but I intend to stay in the Mr Body Shorts class now," Belcher said.
A reception worker at City Fitness Gym in Napier, Belcher, will find it hard to produce an excuse for missing trainings. For 12 weeks before Sunday's show he trained two-and-a-half hours each day of the week and had a similar routine for four weeks before the Gisborne show.
"I've got to thank Andrew who helped me a lot and also my nutritionist Megan Miller."
A rugby league player during his secondary school days in Australia, Belcher, is only a spectator of the 13-man code these days. Bodybuilding is his sole sporting pursuit and if he continues on his winning way at the various shows he enters that's unlikely to change in a hurry.
Hawke's Bay's Tracy Coyle completed a memorable year by winning the women's overall shape title for the first time. Coyle, 40, had earlier in the year won this title at the Hawke's Bay, Manawatu and Auckland shows.
Other Bay competitors to win their respective classes were Rachael Palmer in the novice figure short class, John "Bertie" Cocking in the grand masters 65 plus class, Reilly Brown in the open athletic tall class and Ioapo Savaiinaea in the masters 40plus physique class.
Hawke's Bay's Mr Physique, Aaron Vaisigano, who was aiming to win the Mr New Zealand title for a second time, was pipped by Aucklander Manase Afuhaamango. The Bay's big hope in the novice athletic tall class, Josh Grace, finished second.
"From a Hawke's Bay perspective we were thrilled to have so many titles and competitors among the major placegetters. The whole show went well,' Murray said.
