Forty-nine marching groups of various ages from around the country gathered at Dunedin’s Edgar Centre to put their routines to the test.
The event, which ran from Thursday to Saturday, was hosted by Marching Otago and was free for spectators to attend. About 400 spectators went along to watch.
The championship is the main event of the national marching season.
Marching Otago publicity officer Viki Kingsley-Holmes said nobody could have predicted the result.
Teams Eclipse (Canterbury), Empire (Canterbury) and Glennette (Wellington) tied for first place in the senior display phase after scoring the same number of points.
"It was really, really exciting," Kingsley-Holmes said.
"It’s not something I’ve heard of happening before."
Another abnormal occurrence was the complete lack of marches having to be repeated, which usually occurred due to issues with music or an injury.
"Normally, you have re-march after re-march, but we didn’t have one."
The crowd was so entertained by the event it might have inspired some to try marching out for themselves.
"We had a few people interested in joining Marching Otago, which was really nice."
And for those not necessarily keen to throw on a marching uniform themselves, they could still walk away with a souvenir of the event.
A penguin toy commemorating the event had proved popular among younger spectators, she said.
