Hundreds of women will descend on Hobart as part of Australia’s largest women’s only functional fitness competition, with organisers saying the event is about celebrating what bodies can do rather than how they look.
The Butterfly Effect Competition will be held on Sunday May 17 at 42 South Functional Fitness in Hobart with 220 competitors and an estimated 700 spectators set to attend.
Co-founder Rowena Calderwood said the event began a decade ago to fill a gap in the fitness world.
“The Butterfly Effect started in 2015 as a grassroots initiative to create a safe and empowering competition space for women in fitness at a time when body image and inclusivity weren’t often part of the conversation in mainstream events,” she said.
“We launched with a handful of teams and a strong purpose – to support the Butterfly Foundation, raise awareness for eating disorders and challenge narrow beauty ideals in the fitness space.”
Ten years on, the competition runs across multiple countries with sold-out events and thousands of athletes.
“We’re more than a comp, we’re a movement,” Calderwood said.
“Athletes don’t just enter for fitness. They join for the values, for the vibe and for the emotional impact.”
Raising awareness for eating disorders is deeply personal for both Calderwood and co-organiser Karly Kentwell.
Calderwood’s mother suffered from anorexia, and she said she grew up believing her self-worth was tied to her appearance.
“I spent most of my childhood worried about food and ironically my teens not really caring about food at all,” she said.
“I believed ‘fat’ was what separates you from being a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ person.”
In her twenties, Calderwood became homeless and lived off scraps from people’s plates at cafes.
That experience taught her to never take food or her health for granted.
Kentwell said she’d always found body image challenging after growing up in Asia surrounded by peers with slight builds.
“What I saw in the mirror never quite matched how others saw me,” Kentwell said.
“This has carried on to my adult life. I still struggle to not critique every part of my body. It will always be a work in progress.”
“The aim is to shift the focus from appearance to appreciation for what our bodies can do,” Kentwell said.
The event supports the Butterfly Foundation.
