Bronzed bikini-clad women and board-short-clad men worked up a sweat at the most unlikely of venues for an international beach volleyball competition – the Hamilton lake.
For two days volleyballers from all over the world battled for supremacy in the Hamilton open leg of the New Zealand Beach Volleyball Tour, much to the delight of onlookers who, like the players, were unfazed by the lack of beach.
Last year's defending womens' champions, Germany's Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig, were beaten by Marleen Van Iersel and Sanne Keizer from the Netherlands and in the men's competition Kiwis Kirk Pitman and Ben O'Dea outplayed United States pair Jesse Rambis and Ed Ratledge.
Waikato Regional Volleyball president and tournament director Dave Macpherson said the decision was made to shift from Claudelands, where last year's event was held, to the more public spot near The Verandah and children's playground at the lake.
Mr Macpherson said $11,000 of the $15,000 given by the Hamilton City Council for the event had gone into trucking in about 30 tonnes of sand for the court and craning in the two grandstands, but the event had had the desired effect of raising beach volleyball's profile in Hamilton.
"We've had a lot of foot traffic," Mr Macpherson said. "People have been stopping and watching for an hour, or coming for the whole day. "People have brought their seats and set up over on the lawn to watch, which we were hoping they would do."
Sally McLean, from Hamilton, said she had seen the event being set up from her home and had decided to have a look. She enjoyed the Saturday so much she was back on the Sunday. "I think it's fantastic. "Anything like this is wonderful for Hamilton, especially when it's a landlocked city.
"They can't exactly go and jump in the lake to cool down after."Mrs McLean said she was impressed by the skill of the players, and was sure more people would be attracted to playing the sport after seeing the games live.
Mr Macpherson said a Hamilton beach volleyball league, for four-a-side teams, would start on Wednesday evenings in mid-February, and he hoped people had been inspired to join.