NZ hosts wave of key surfing events
22 Sep 2009
New Zealand is riding the crest of a wave of surfing popularity with some of the sport’s top competitions - including the Dream Tour and the World Junior championships - to be held at the country’s top surf breaks this summer.
As well as the World Junior Surfing Championships scheduled for January 2010 at West Auckland’s Piha beach, the North Island region of Taranaki region was yesterday (21.09.09) confirmed as venue for the women’s leg of the prestigious Dream Tour.
It will be the biggest surfing event ever to be held in New Zealand.
Women’s World Tour
Part of the Women’s World Tour, the event will attract elite surfers from all over the world.
The competitions will be hosted by Surfing Taranaki from 14 - 18 April next year, and under the current agreement, these could be held in the region for the next eight years.
The Dream Tour event is expected to draw a television audience of about 50 million viewers.
Women's World Tour international chief executive Brodie Carr said the organisation was thrilled to be adding New Zealand to the ASP Women's World Tour schedule.
"The region is ripe with world class waves and it's a fantastic opportunity to showcase the talents of our outstanding female athletes," Carr said.
Paige Hareb
One of those outstanding athletes is local surfing star 19-year-old Paige Hareb. From Oakura in Taranaki, Hareb is running third in the world series in her rookie year.
It was Hareb’s success that inspired Surfing Taranaki to contend for the Dream Tour leg.
Supported by a week-long Taranaki Women's Surf Festival, the major event will be based at Fitzroy Beach, in New Plymouth.
Traditionally the first winter swells hit the region’s shoreline around April, and each day the competition will move around the coast to catch the best breaks.
New Zealand first
ASP Women's World Tour manager Brooke Farris confirmed it was the first-ever World Tour event to be held in New Zealand "making this an historic step for both professional surfing and sports in the country".
"It's fantastic to see the people of New Zealand putting all their support behind tour rookie Paige Hareb.
"It will be very exciting to see Paige bring the tour to her local town and perform in front of the masses," Farris said.
Surfing Taranaki said the idea initially came from Hareb's father, Mike Hareb, who had seen the potential after travelling the world with his daughter.
Hareb said she was "stoked" that the major event would be on the "world class breaks" where she first honed her skills.
"To have one of the top events in the world for women's surfing at my home break is pretty amazing," she said.
"I love coming home and going down the coast and surfing my favourite waves and there's only a couple of people out. It's one of my favourite things."
Taranaki surf festival
Association of Surfing Professionals Tour, which organises the Dream Tour, says the event involves the world's top 17 women surfers who compete at breaks across the world.
The Taranaki leg will be the climax of a week of women's surfing events in the Taranaki Women's Surf Festival, where at least 100 women will compete in the New Zealand Women's Open.
The festival winner will qualify as the wildcard in the elite Dream Team competition.
2010 Junior Surfing Champs
The West Auckland beach of Piha will have the honour of hosting the World Junior Surfing Champs in early 2010.
Surfing New Zealand secured the event ahead of hot spots Costa Rica and Peru, and it will be the first time it has been held in Australasia in more than 25 years.
The event will be held from 20 - 28 January, attracting 250 of the world’s best under-18 surfers from almost 30 countries.
The nine-day event is expected to pump $5 million into the local economy.
More information:
NZ to host world junior surfing champs
Video: Piha to host Junior Surfing Champs - 3 News
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