'Smiley Assassin' good fit for award

A Kaikohe woman has been named New Zealand's top personal trainer, beating off stiff competition for the title from the country's biggest and slickest gyms.
Sue Price - nicknamed "Kaikohe Sue" by Auckland trainers and "The Smiley Assassin" by her clients - won the hotly contested title at the 2009 Fitness Life Awards in Auckland.
Mrs Price, 39 and mother of three, has worked as a personal trainer around the Mid North and Bay of Islands for the past four years. Before that, she was a PE teacher for 15 years, mostly at Northland College in Kaikohe. She still teaches PE part-time at Kerikeri's Springbank School as well as working with a wide range of clients and running fitness programmes for children, teenagers and Sports Academy athletes.
Kaikohe born and bred, Mrs Price's parents John and Lily Coleman have a farm just outside town. She has Masters-level qualifications, was a national sprint champion at 15 and still holds a swag of Northland sprint records.
Mrs Price said she won kudos from the judges for taking personal training out of the confines of the gym to places "way up the back of Kaikohe". Each contestant also had to submit a promotional DVD - the judges told her the other finalists' DVDs focused on themselves, working with clients who resembled Barbie dolls; her DVD, on the other hand, focused on her clients, who were real Northlanders achieving real results.
The judging panel included AUT fitness and exercise lecturer Nigel Harris, psychologist Alice Boyes and Local Government Minister Rodney Hide.
The judges said Mrs Price showed obvious energy and love for the job.
"Through Sue's real passion and understanding of her community, she has not only built a thriving personal training business, but has also raised the profile of personal training for many people who may not ever have contemplated using it. Northland is fitter, healthier and better for Sue Price," they said.
Mrs Price said exercise had always made her feel good and she wanted others to experience the same benefits.
"As a personal trainer, I'm an agent for changing behaviour," she said.
"People who employ a PT tend to have a love/hate relationship with food and exercise. My role is to intervene where necessary, educate, encourage, inspire, and empower my client to adopt and maintain a more physically active and healthy lifestyle."
The awards were announced on Friday by Sports Minister Murray McCully, ex-All Black Josh Kronfeld and Prime TV news presenter Suzy Clarkson.
Last year, Mrs Price was named runner-up personal trainer of the year.