A former Whangarei man has won a major bodybuilding title - less than a month after entering his first contest.
Kurt von Keisenberg took top place in the 70-80kg class from competitors from all around the country at the national bodybuilding championships held in Auckland over the weekend.
The former Tauraroa Area
School and Kamo High student had qualified for the contest by winning his class at the Central North Island championships in Tauranga only a fortnight earlier.
While delighted with his placing on Saturday, von Keisenberg was mainly looking forward to a restaurant meal after weeks of milk powder protein supplements, rice and tuna.
Unfortunately the contest didn't finish until well after 10pm when all restaurants in the vicinity were closed - von Keisenberg ended up having to celebrate his win over a plate of snacks bought from a 24-hour supermarket.
For the future, the 23-year-old is uncertain about taking the sport any further, his family is not keen on seeing him bulk up any further for the heavier weight classes and he admits there's an exhausting amount of discipline and work involved to compete at any level.
Von Keisenberg took up gym work on the urging of his Whangarei judo instructor to build shoulder strength after suffering broken collar bones.
That enthusiasm continued at university and beyond although his first sport remains soccer. Von Keisenberg played for FC Whangarei and now for a Waikato University team.
