'Tough girl' muscles in on husband

When Amanda Pomana told husband Derek she was going to be a "Tough Girl" he responded like many world-class powerlifters would - with disdain.
"He told me I must be mad. 'You'd get dirty doing it,' he said.
"You see, that's because he's not in the aerobics side of things," says Amanda, who had the last laugh when she won the social women's section of the Waikato Draught Tough Guy and Tough Girl Challenge in Rotorua at the weekend.
The disparity between the Napier couple is astronomical and the friendly banter quite understandable when you compare the tale of the tape.
Derek, a Napier firefighter, weighs 120kg juxtaposed to a size 14 Amanda's 70kg.
Amanda, an intensive care unit nurse at the Hawke's Bay Hospital in Hastings, did some light off-road training for the Tough Girl Challenge including hill walks and runs four times a week.
Derek, a three-time Hawke's Bay Sportsperson of the Year who has competed at 14 consecutive world powerlifting championships, pumps iron for one and a half hours four times a week.
Amanda feasts on some vegetables, a tossed salad here and there, some fruit and pieces of chicken to make up her protein intake.
"Derek eats four times as much as me," says Amanda.
"He wolfs down a whole chicken in one sitting."
The couple, who have two children, eight-year-old Samuel and nine-year-old Hannah at Taradale School, not surprisingly have a grocery bill in the vicinity of $500 a fortnight.
However, what makes Amanda's victory remarkable is that six weeks earlier she had injured her chest following a bicycle accident.
Amanda's race involved a 4.5km running race on a muddy four-wheel-drive off-road course. Contestants had to negotiate man-made troughs, cargo nets and barbed-wire hazards.
"We were covered in mud from head to foot at the end.
"Fortunately there were some farm troughs nearby for us to wash ourselves down afterwards," says Amanda.
"If I moved up to the serious grades, which involves a 9km course, I would definitely have to up the training," she says.
The reaction from those close to the Pomanas was one of "total disbelief" when the couple found out three days later on the event's website that she had won.
"Derek ate humble pie and he was very proud of me. He's very supportive now and doesn't mind sharing the championship glory with others," says Amanda.