New World Three Parks is celebrating its fifth birthday today (Thursday December 5), with the annual grocery grab competition taking place as part of the celebrations.

The winning entrant, local resident Maggie Antone, raced around the store this morning, managing to secure a whopping $1,699.58 worth of groceries during the two-minute ‘grab’.

"I never win competitions,” Maggie said. “I actually like entering because I work in marketing and I like to see the mechanics of how competitions are run."

When it came to her grocery grab strategy, Maggie didn't leave anything to chance. 

"I had a plan," she said. "I talked to quite a few people, [and] got some pretty good advice, which was [to] hit the proteins, which I did. And then I went for other what I considered high-value items with the intention of trying to raise as much money [as possible] to be donated in kind."

New World Three Parks will match Maggie's haul, making a monetary donation of equal value to the Upper Clutha foodbank. Maggie is also chipping in, donating some of her winnings to the food bank.

Community Link general manager Kate Murray said the donation “makes a huge difference”.

“We're seeing an increasing need which has almost doubled in the past 12 months," Kate said.

New World Three Parks customer services manager Biff said the supermarket “always looks forward to our birthday celebration and the annual grocery grab”.

“Maggie was a great winner and has been very generous in donating some of her winnings to support the food bank," Biff said.

The New World Three Parks Grocery Grab competition attracted 1,184 entries through the Wānaka App.

PHOTO: Wānaka App