Daniel Farr during the New Zealand National Surfing Championships 2023. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
A record number of entries have been received for next week's National Surfing Championships in Taranaki.
More than 400 surfers have signed up for the 62nd National Championships.
Both 2024 champions Daniel Farr of Taranaki and Maya Mateja of Raglan will be there to defend their elite titles.
Also competing in the women's division is international star Paige Hareb who last won the title in 2022.
With Taranaki having an abundance of surfing spots, organisers can pick from a half a dozen venues from Fitzroy in the north to Opunake in the south depending on conditions.
The week long event starts on Sunday and is the 10th time it has been hosted by the West Coast region, with the most recent in 2019.
A total of 29 divisions are contested with both men's and women's sections from under 14's to over 70's.
Athletes compete in short and long boards, stand-up paddleboards, knee and body boards.
Up for grabs is the Peter Byers Overall Performance of the Event Award.
Peter Byers started surfboard building in 1958 after being visited by Californian lifeguards Bing Copeland and Rick Stoner.
Remembered as one of the pioneering board riders and the founding father of board making in New Zealand, Byers passed away in 2012 at the age of 71.
That year and every nationals since, Surfing New Zealand honoured the memory and pioneering work of Byers with a surfboard shaped trophy shaped out of West Coast Kauri by local craftsman Clive Barron.