Taari also took out the Masters Unequipped Overall, the Best Female Unequipped Open and Best Female Unequipped Masters titles as well as the Overall Female titles.
"It's amazing", she said. "My goal was to come first in everything but I didn't realise how far ahead I would be from my competition. The judges before the comp actually queried whether I was ready after being out of competition for so long and warned me to take it easy. My trainer thought they were being patronising and told me to 'show them what I'm made of'".
Taari (Te Rarawa, Whangape) has been powerlifting for over 15 years, with her greatest achievement thus far being her second placing in the worlds in 2009. She got into lifting when a previous trainer recommended she would be good at it. She says she enjoys the challenges that come with lifting and "training with the guys".
She says her accomplishments were achieved through hard work and dedication. She trains up to six days a week and credits her trainer and team-mate Ricardo Taylor for a lot of her success.
"I pretty much expected it would turn out like it did," says Ricardo, who has been training Taari for the past five years.
"Her passion for the sport is huge. Besides her family, lifting is it for her."
Club Physical owner Stan Day agrees: "Taari, and all the team, worked hard to get where they are today, and it's paid off for them. All of us here at the gym are really proud of them."
These were the first nationals that Ricardo had taken part in and he came away with a first in his 83kg class and a new regional raw record of 135kg.
"I'm rapt. It was a personal best for me, and especially at my first nationals."
Father and son team-mates Leon and Liam O'Connor took out their weight classes, with Leon winning the Masters 1 in the 105kg class with a raw bench of 190kg and son Liam claiming the Sub Junior title with his raw bench lift of 105kg.
Fellow Kaitaia team member Mark Osborne came second in the Master 1 class with his lift of 185kg.
Taari has also been selected to represent New Zealand in the Oceania/Asia Champs in Melbourne in December - and trainer Ricardo has no doubt she will impress there too.
"The current Oceania record is 120kg. Taari lifted that with her first go at the nationals. I'm already thinking about the next competition. We were straight back into training the day after the nationals."
Taari would like to thank all her whanau, supporters and Stan Day and the rest of the management team at Club Physical for their ongoing support.
