Aerobics competition lifts profile of sport

Queen's High School pupils Alannah Taggart (left) and Christina Ashton (both 17) compete in the aerobics section of the New Zealand Competitive Aerobics Federation Otago Regionals at the King's and Queen's Performing Arts Centre at the weekend. PHOTO: SUPPLIED.

More than 200 aerobic and hip hop competitors took to the stage at the King's and Queen's Performing Arts Centre at the weekend.

Eighty-two hip hop entrants and 125 aerobics entrants participated in the New Zealand Competitive Aerobics Federation Otago Regionals.

Queen's High School aerobics manager and coach Helen Lowther said the competition went really well.

''There was some good competition, good numbers and heaps of spectators, which is good for lifting the profile of the sport. Otago and Southland are the biggest regions for competitor numbers,'' Mrs Lowther said.

The event was also an opportunity for competitors to qualify for the national finals in Wellington on September 19 and 20, she said.

Nine hip hop crews and 49 aerobics teams, comprising 62 and 87 competitors respectively, qualified for the finals.

The overall hip hop winner was the Rasa School of Dance, and Queen's High School won the NZCAF Otago Region trophy for the highest-scoring school.

Queen's pupil Riley Haugh won the Liv Graham trophy for the most artistic performance and Bayfield High School pupil Jade Fielding won the Lowther trophy for technical excellence.