By DITA DE BONI
For the less flexible in the audience, watching Victoria Wiltshire bend her body into a prize-winning pose at the weekend's New Zealand Secondary Schools Sports Aerobics Championships in Auckland was eye-watering stuff.
The spaghetti-like 11-year-old from Rangeview Intermediate School in Te Atatu, Auckland, has a background in
jazz and traditional ballet.
She was placed second in her age group on Saturday evening - not bad, say organisers, for someone who has been in the sport for only six months.
Event director Sarah Bradford says training for competitive aerobics focuses on developing flexibility and strength, although some are naturally more flexible than others.
The most flexible competitors can easily do three types of splits and pull their legs around their ears, and the best do it with a confident smile instead of a pained grimace.
The championships drew 75 competitors - one boy and 74 girls - whose performances, Ms Bradford says, were "of a very high standard".
An enthusiastic audience of 250 gathered to watch the final heat.
Winner Katherine Lougher, of Gisborne Girls High School, will represent the country in Australia in a fortnight.
