The first New Zealand Wheelchair Bodybuilding Federation (NZWBBF) National Championships - held at Hamilton's Fairfield Intermediate last month - was a massive success, says its organiser David Robson.
Robson said six well-honed athletes took to the stage. Replete with copious layers of fake tan to accentuate their stage-ready physiques andgym-crafted muscles, each competitor posed to infectious beats that got the audience clapping and cheering them along.
In a closely fought battle, the final outcome came down to one point: with Hamilton lifter and open weight wheelchair competitor Stacey Lomax beating newfound sparring partner and fellow Hamiltonian, Callum Bridson by the slimmest of margins.
Matt Chivers and Iti Paiti, both from Hamilton, rounded out this division, placing third and fourth respectively.
In the standing disability division, Auckland's Chris Matthews out-muscled Hamilton's Rori Rakena Hayward for top honours.
In a gruelling day-long event, each competitor underwent close scrutiny during an initial pre-judging round where 11 compulsory poses, each held for 10 seconds, were completed multiple times until each of the four judges was satisfied with who would place where and why.
After a short break the competitors were back, displaying choreographed posing routines (each running for a maximum of three minutes) and basking in the adulation of a vocal audience.
Following their individual posing routines each class of competitors took part in a pose down set to rock music to give the audience and judges a final look at a year's worth of intensive gym training.
Based on the positive reception to the event, 2016's NZWBBF Nationals - to be held again at Fairfield Intermediate, on November 26 - promises to be bigger than ever.
