Taranaki surfers win big at nationals

Two Taranaki surfers claimed their first-ever national titles on Saturday, capping off a successful competition for the region.

Daniel Farr and Paige Hareb have been crowned open men’s and women’s winners respectively at the 2022 National Surfing Championships, held at Westport’s Nine Mile Beach.

Farr’s win also catapulted the New Plymouth Surfriders Club to the top club spot, which was also a first.

The 22-year-old Farr was ‘‘over the moon’’ with his success, which involved a comefrom-behind clutch set of moves to bag the necessary points to overtake Raglan’s Billy Stairmand, who competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

‘‘When I was behind, it changed my game plan a little bit, I have been practising airs a lot at home and getting my success rate up, so I kinda wanted to do that in the final.’’

In contrast, Hareb took control from the outset in her final, which she won in comfortable fashion.

The achievement of securing her first national title represented a long-held ambition for the Oakura surfer. She also took out the over-30 women’s division.

She described the win as ‘‘almost a relief’’ as not having won a national title had ‘‘played on my mind every year’’.

Hareb was back in Taranaki on Monday, before she heads to Australia in mid-February for the Regional Qualifying series, with the view of securing a spot on the World Tour in 2023.

While Farr and Hareb took out the premier titles, Taranaki was well represented in other divisions.

Amanda Gouldsbury narrowly beat her sister Natasha in the under-18 girls division. Natasha also came runner-up in the women’s longboard final, which was won by Piha’s Gabi Paul.

Kalani Louis came second in the under-18 boys division, while Skylar Mcfetridge was runner-up in the under-16 girls section.

Kane Rowson came second in the over-35 men’s division and also placed third in the men’s stand up paddleboard final, while Murray Weir took out bronze in the kneeboarding competition.

The strength of the Taranaki surfing community was not lost on Farr, who was greeted by a big group of them when he came out of the water victorious on Saturday.

‘‘We are strong, and we have a good culture, and we were stoked with the finals day and how it unfolded.’’

SURFING NZ Left, Taranaki surfer Daniel Farr claimed his first national title on Saturday in a tight competition, part of a set of great results from the region.

DEREK/NZ SURF JOURNAL Above: Paige Hareb won the open women’s division at the National Surfing Championships – something she wanted to achieve for a long time.