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Getting To Know Paige Hareb
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Paige Hareb- Killer Surfer!
Paige Hareb is world number 10 women's surfer in the world and here's the shock. She's not from the US, Australia, Hawaii or Europe, South America Africa or Asia. Brace yourselves people. It's that awesome little island nation in the Pacific called New Zealand. Paige surfs brilliantly and is a great person as well. It's almost enough to want to claim her as Australian! We'll try anyway...
Paige was born in New Plymouth on New Zealand's wild west. According to Paige there's "lots of fun point breaks both ways and some barrels at beaches" but generally the surf is quite "mellow." A great place for a young girl to learn to surf. She is from Oakura Beach and is a goofy foot. Her favourite colour is blue. She's not sure why but "because my eyes are blue and she likes to match her clothes to them!"
Paige debuted on the ASP World Tour in 2008. In 2009 she reached the semi finals of the Roxy Pro in Coolangatta. Her most recent competition was the Swatch girls Pro in Hossegor, France where she finished second.
Paige has recently visited Costa Rica and says she loved it. She was there for three weeks and says she never got bored. Paige found the people welcoming and friendly and says "you can't beat the warm water and weather." She surfed, filmed a movie and hung out with locals who were very welcoming. Luckily for her they all spoke "really good English!"
She says part of her training has been boxing. It began simply as cross training but then she competed in the New Zealand Woodstock Reserve "Fight for Life" charity event against Hayley Holt. Paige says "the whole experience happened pretty quickly but I loved it." She hopefully wants to box again soon. She also loves to run because she can do that anywhere in the world.
The biggest downside to her success has been that it's hard for her to get into a routine. She says " you're always travelling and moving around." One of her favourite places to drop in is Australia. She says "I love Australia, with it being so close to New Zealand it sort of feels like my second home." She loves the warmer weather and, despite the rivalries with our surfers, she says the "waves have been pretty kind to (her) overall." Paige has won a World Qualifying Series in Margaret River as part of her success here. But unfortunately for Australia she is still a true patriot "I do have a patriotic silver fern tattooed on the inside of my left ankle." However she said she loves many different countries that she has visited.
However home is always where the heart is. Paige grew up in the beautiful Taranaki region a mountainous, lush area on New Zealand's North Island. Mount Taranaki is in the middle of this area. Paige says "The Taranaki Mountain is in my backyard! I have been skiiing on that Mountain since I was about two years old." She lived in Oakura which is ten minutes south of the main city of New Plymouth so she was also close to all the regions dairy farms, passing them to go surfing every day. "You can ski and surf in the same day, it's my favourite. I really do love Taranaki!"
When competing she likes listening to music that "amps" her up when training. However at competitions she likes her silence, taking in the surroundings and "knowing exactly what's going on." Paige would like the number one spot but if she does not achieve this, she still loves surfing.
Her advice to young surfers, particularly girls who are learning the sport? "Have fun and make sure you are doing it because you love it and no other reason."
In her downtime Paige likes to film and edit short movies. She likes to explore places she's in , take photos with different cameras and surf the internet.
But my guess is the ocean is still her favourite place in the world. And it probably always will be.
You can see her surfing in Costa Rica in a film called "3 killa y un kiwi." Paige surfs in it but did not make it. Click here to watch the preview.
Words by Peter McApline
Peter McAlpine based in Sydney
My name is Peter McAlpine. I am a freelance writer/photographer (I'm particularly interested in photojournalism). I have just spent the last six months travelling Japan, UK and Paris with friends. I can surf but not very well! My specialist area is sport, I write for Roar.com as well as SurfSister and am about to be published in the United States.
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