Miss Kaiteriteri draws a blank
Mr Kaiteriteri was without a match at this year’s competition, after no Miss Kaiteriteri hopefuls entered.
Instead, the junior Miss Kaiteriteri, Lucy Worley, 13, of Christchurch, was given the overall prize too, and saw the funny side.
Worley, who holidays in Kaiteriteri regularly, told Mr Kaiteriteri James Stephenson, 16: ‘‘Since you’re a bit out of my league, you should go out with my sister’’.
Tasman district councillor and contest judge Peter Canton said the low number of entries for the competition was not an indication that the competition was losing its appeal.
‘‘It’s just because we had to delay it [because of morning rain] ... people who were interested in the morning had things to do in town in the afternoon,’’ he said.
A 300-strong crowd were still drawn to the event and were treated to the dance moves of those young and old. The younger categories proved popular, with kids of all ages wowing the crowd with energetic dancing and some impressive break-dance moves. Many contestants in the girls’ 9- to 11-year-old category pulled handstands, push-ups and splits to stand out from the 18 contestants.
As with Miss Kaiteriteri, the competition for those in the older categories, King and Queen of Kaiteriteri (ages 55 and over) and Prince and Princess of Kaiteriteri (ages 25 and over), provided slim pickings.
Canton himself signed up for the Kaiteriteri King competition in a bid to encourage more entrants after no-one signed up.
He managed to encourage a few others to join him, saying he wouldn’t let down ‘‘the age-old tradition of embarrassing our kids or grand-kids,’’ and came second to the only other contestant for the crown.
‘‘I’ll be entering again next year, I have to up my game,’’ Canton said.
‘‘I’m sure with some practice I can take my five push-ups up to ten in time for next year’s competition.’’
Stephenson was one of just three contestants in the Mr Kaiteriteri competition, for those aged 16 to 25 years, but no women signed up in the equivalent Miss Kaiteriteri.
Despite her happiness at winning the top prize in both the junior category and Miss Kaiteriteri category overall, Worley said she wouldn’t be signing up for the competition in 2019. Preparations for an international modellers convention are steaming ahead as participants arrive in Nelson to show off their model trains and boats.
Nelson Society of Modellers president Nigel Gibbs said more than 300 people were taking part in the convention, which is being held at its Tahunanui base from January 4 to 8.
The convention will feature model boats, steam engines and locomotives.
‘‘We’ve got the [Modellers] pond nice and clean and full, and it’s looking good,’’ he said.
A marquee would be going up over the next 24 hours, along with fencing, and he hoped Nelsonians would embrace the convention.
‘‘We’ll be running train rides from 10am until 4pm daily, from the 4th through until the 8th,’’ he said.
They hoped to hold a ‘‘night run’’ from 7pm on Saturday, weather dependent.
Train rides are a dollar, and there would also be food and coffee carts at the grounds.
Gibbs said the last convention the Nelson Society of Modellers hosted was in 2010, and Nelson provided a central location for people from other parts of the country.
‘‘Our facilities are as good as most of the others around the country and we’ve still got people talking about the last convention we held here and how good it was, so there’s a bit of a benchmark for us to live up to.’’
He enjoyed meeting up with other passionate and like-minded people from around the country, looking at all their models, and talking about ‘‘engineering stuff’’.
He said members of the public were welcome to come down to the facilities, take a look at the models,