Beer (27) and Corbett (15) are the latest black belts at the Warrington Taekwondo Club, after passing a tough four-hour grading on Saturday.
The achievement was about eight years in the making for Beer and Corbett, who had to wait a year before getting the chance to move on from the black-tipped red belt.
''We had to do lots of training,'' Beer said.
''Lots of running, hill sprints - we both put lots of hours into it. We trained three days a week for the whole year, so the lead-up to grading was lots of hard work.
''It's such good self confidence and self-discipline, which you use in daily life, as well.''
While the pair train twice a week at the Warrington club, they are also required to train once a week at its sister club, in Northeast Valley.
Their training in preparation for the black belt grading also involved training some junior members.
The pair had to be invited to grade for the 10th belt in the sport, and Beer said she was relieved and honoured to have achieved it.
Much has changed since she first took up taekwondo in the early 1990s and was the only female at the club. After six years being the only female, Beer gave up the sport before returning to it a couple of years ago. Now, there are as many females as males at the 30-strong Warrington club.
Corbett, who also rows for the North End club in Dunedin, said the sport was becoming ''hugely'' popular with females.
Despite having their black belts, there is still plenty to aspire to - including working their way to a nine dan (or category nine) black belt, something which will ''take years''.
The pair will now have to wait two years before being eligible to earn their second dan black belt.
-by Robert van Royen
