Two Queenstown bodybuilders have come away winners from a national bodybuilding competition in Auckland on Sunday.
At the National Amateur Body Building Association (Nabba) New Zealand Nationals, Cassie Chow won the Open Figure Short class, becoming national champion for that class. Fellow Queenstown competitor Irshad Ali won the Novice Athletic Sport class.
Ms Chow said she was ''absolutely thrilled'' with her first win in an open category at a national event.
''I trained with the aim of winning but it's nice when it all pays off.''
Nabba secretary Marianne Poole said Ms Chow went on to compete in the overall figure class which was won by Auckland's
Janine Haywood.
After her win at the nationals, Ms Chow would have the opportunity to go overseas, Ms Poole said.
Ms Chow's ''next project'' was to compete with the New Zealand bodybuilding team at the International Bodybuilding Association (Inba) Natural Olympia in San Diego next month, having been invited following her recent successes.
She qualified to compete at the New Zealand nationals after winning the Nabba Wellington Championships Open Figure-Short category last month.
In total, 175 athletes competed at the national competition on Sunday. About 12 were from Otago.
