Farr, Hareb rule the waves at national championships

Two Taranaki surfers claimed their first 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.

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

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 longheld 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 will be back in Taranaki today, before she heads to Australia in mid-February for the Regional Qualifying Services, with the view of securing a spot on the World Tour in 2023.