NABBA WFF Art Deco Grand Prix, 27 June 2015

	Report and Pics! NABBA WFF Art Deco Grand Prix Thanks Paul McSweeney of Defined Photography for the pics
Overall Winners		Dave Forward and Sarah Parr, Show Organisers

THE FITWEAR ART DECO GRAND PRIX - Napier, 27^th June, 2015

By Sarah Parr

The inaugural NABBA/WFF FITWEAR Art Deco Grand Prix was held at Napier Boys High school on Saturday, June 27^th and I’m thrilled to say it was received with overwhelmingly good feedback from the athletes and all those who attended!

With FITWEAR as our generous major sponsor, we were able to gift athletes and audience with gym clothing, not to mention the prize bags that were stacked high with goodies!

As first-time show organisers (for myself and fiancé Dave Forward) this was a completely new and surreal experience to say the least! We’ve both competed as athletes and test-judged but this experience gave us a new respect for the magnitude of work, effort and heart that goes into the planning of such an event.

I was priviledged to also be a part of many of the local athletes preparation for the NABBA/WFF debut in Hawkes Bay and 'Team Sarah' celebrated many wins, with the gym team trophy deservedly going to NFINITE Health & Fitness Napier.

Our quality of athletes was outstanding and included our very own WFF Pro Sue Bettridge, guest poser Tony Liga Liga who wowed crowds with his routine, and the amazing Paula Signall who competed with our federation for the first time- we can't wait to see you at Nationals Paula!

It was great to have the support of some of our seasoned local athletes, however for many stepping on stage at our first show- this also their first show!

Newcomers included well-prepared junior Harrison Walmsley-Bartlett the stunning Santana Schwass in Bikini while Tegan McLachlan showed us great stage charisma in Sportsmodel. Awhi Timu made an elegant debut in novice athletic, Hayley Johnson looked classy and statuesque NABBA novice figure and athletic novice Che McGehan impressed with open class conditioning!

Courageous category changeovers paid off for both Dawn Jennings, who transitioned well from physique to earn an overall Miss WFF athletic title and Herewini Taurima, who went from junior men the previous year to Mr Sportsmodel, also earning him a top spot.

Thanks goes to our panel of fantastic judges, who included special guest test judge Australia's Shaz Campbell, WFF Pro Johanna Mountfort and junior World & Universe champ Kagan Orton. A special thanks goes to Vice-president Leanne Simays who provided us with continual guidance, support and positive feedback, even with all she had to deal with.

It was great to finally bring only the internationally affiliated NABBA federation, combined with the WFF to the bay! Now our athletes have the opportunity to compete locally, qualify for Nationals and proceed on to either the authentic NABBA Universe & Worlds or the WFF Universe & Worlds.

A successful and very exciting first year for the NABBA/WFF in Hawkes Bay for sure, thanks to all who helped make this a great experience for the athletes and we are (as bodybuilders should be) looking forward to growing bigger and better with every passing year!