Paige Hareb has finished her rookie year on the World Tour in eighth place qualifying for the Tour in 2010 directly through her World Tour ranking, as well as qualifying through the World Qualifying Series that finished a couple of months ago where she placed fourth.  Paige finished ninth in the Billabong Pro held at Honolua Bay, Maui, Hawaii - the last event of the year. 

The Kiwi boys placed as follows on the QS:
111: Bobby Hansen
134: Richard Christie
164: Rowan Aish
174: Nick White 

If you are keen to be a part of the biggest international surfing event to come to New Zealand, then make sure you register your interest to be a volunteer at the 2010 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Championship being held at Piha Beach, Auckland 20-28 January 2010.  All you need to do is show your interest by emailing volunteers@nzsponsorship.co.nz.

The 2009 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Surfing New Zealand Inc (SNZ) was held at Raglan in November.  Long serving members of the SNZ board Bruce Scott (President) and Nigel O’Leary (Board Member) stood down after excellent service to the sport.  A huge thank you goes out to Bruce and Nigel who have put in a ton of work to develop the organisation over the past six years.

Steve Poulter was elected as the new President of the organisation and will lead the following team:

President – Steve Poulter
Vice President – Simon Gerrie
North Island Rep – Michael Fitzharris
South Island Rep – Dave O’Rourke
Board Member – Lewis Joyce 

A challenging two day training camp was held at Piha for the Rip Curl New Zealand Junior Surfing Team.  The team went through a raft of exercises in and out of the water testing their skills, strategy and fitness.  The team also worked on team building and creating a winning environment in the build up to the 2010 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Championship.

Surfing New Zealand recently adopted a new environmental policy.  As a national body, SNZ recognizes it’s responsibility and is committed to understanding and minimising the impact of its activities on the environment.  The policy is located on the SNZ website for all to view - http://www.surfingnz.co.nz/environment.htm.

With the year coming to a close, a number of New Zealand’s top surfers have been sweeping the regional and school sports awards.  It is great to see surfing getting the mainstream recognition from the sporting community.  Check out who has been cleaning up:

Luke Hughes – Waikato District Sports Person of the Year

Alexis Poulter – Waikato District Junior Sports Woman of the Year

Matt Hewitt – Bay of Plenty Junior Sportsperson of the Year

Daisy Thomas – Finalist in the Canterbury Sportswomen of the Year

Paige Hareb – Sports Person of the Year Taranaki Sports Awards