Taranaki surfers win at nationals

Two Taranaki surfers claimed their first national titles on Saturday.

Daniel Farr and Paige Hareb were 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 come-frombehind 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’’.