Kids can win in sevens dress-up
SEVENS fan Teagan Popata, 11, wanted a costume you could spot from right across Westpac Stadium.
‘‘[I] wanted something bright and colourful – it stood out in the shop from all the other costumes,’’ she said.
The Tawa Intermediate pupil will be one of the first to enter the Wellington Sevens costume contest children’s section, new this year. But she admitted she would be glad to get the catwalk parade over with early. ‘‘I’m nervous.’’
She might be wearing purple, but her heart is white and red – England are the family favourites. ‘‘Dad works for them, so they always come over.’’
If she were to win, Teagan and seven of her friends would take home a prize pack to the value of $500, including ten pin bowling and movie passes, rugby balls, food and drink, sponsor Chris Parkin of the Museum Art Hotel said. ‘‘While the prize is not a monetary one, hopefully it will get them quite excited.’’
Parkin, who funded the $25,000 prize pool for the wider competition, said he thought the new category would inspire more kids and their families to attend the event.
‘‘The organisers of the sevens have realised it needs a certain amount of reinvigorating. It’s really, really important that these iconic events stay in Wellington and are successful.
‘‘The sevens have had a fair bit of bagging over the last few years for a variety of reasons – some justified, some not.’’
The costume contest, in association with The Dominion Post, would still keep the standard six category winners of best male and best female, best female, mixed and male group and judge’s choice. The supreme winner would also take the $10,000 prize.
Children’s entries had been absent from the costume competition in its fouryear history.
‘‘I don’t recall any [entering],’’ Parkin said. ‘‘It’s been pretty much adults all the way through. It’ll be interesting to see how they respond to this.’’
With just under two weeks to go, 16,000 tickets for the tournament have been sold. In previous years, the approximately 30,000 tickets had typically sold out, sometimes within minutes of their release.
Sevens general manager Steve Dunbar said in recent weeks there had been a spike in tickets purchased.