Ngāti Tūwharetoa's Tamar Kuru has taken out top honours at this year's NZIFBB National competition, after a two-year layoff.
The former boxer turned bodybuilder made extreme changes to her lifestyle in the 24 month lead up to the event, winning title of Overall Figure.
“Honestly taking time off to compete helped me so much and I stopped worrying about what the scales were saying” says winner Tamar Kuru.
Māori featured highly amongst the winners; Harliz Wharerau from Tainui came 4th in the Open Mens 90kg to 95kg and Sheena Singh of Tapuika placed 3rd in the Bikini Tall category.
The NZIFBB President Moe El Moussawi says it’s the biggest the national competition to date with more than 180 competitors, "This is the best sort of NZ athletes, they've gone through a lot of filtration in every show and you saw the best out of the best in NZ."
According to competition judge Mo Bashir it was one of the most difficult competitions to judge, “Our responsibility as judges is to make sure we do whatever is possible to make the right call.”
Plans are underway for NZ to host an international pro-amateur competition next year.