Surf star Paige Hareb targeted in protest

PAIGE HAREB: Left shaken after being confronted.

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Surf star Paige Hareb was left shaken after she was confronted by a protester opposed to an international event coming to Taranaki.

Hareb, 18, was with former women's world surfing champion Sophia Mulanovich, of Peru, at the Stent Rd break near Warea last week when the incident occurred.

A male surfer approached her and threatened that protesters would paddle out and disrupt the Dream Tour event planned for April.

"She wasn't very happy," Paige's father, Mike Hareb, said yesterday, without wanting to expand on the confrontation.

Paige is now in Australia and could not be contacted by the Taranaki Daily News.

However, a surfer who spoke to Hareb after the incident said she was upset and disappointed given that local surfers had been her strongest supporters of her developing career.

The world's top 17 women's surfers will compete in the World Championship Tour event in Taranaki from April 14-18. It will coincide with the New Zealand Women's Open, which is expected to attract a field of 100.

Surfing Taranaki has signed up to stage the festival for at least three years with a right of renewal for at least eight.

New Plymouth's Fitzroy Beach is the planned base for the tour event, although there is a strong chance it could be taken to places like Stent Rd.

However, some Taranaki surfers have been vocal in their opposition to the event.

They fear international exposure will attract surfers to their favourite breaks and result in overcrowding.

Mr Hareb, who is involved in the organisation of the Dream Tour event, confirmed a security firm had been contracted for the festival but he would not go into any detail about how they would stop protesters.

The Taranaki Daily News understands members of the newly-formed Coastal Boardriders Club are behind the proposed protest action.

A member of the club, who did not want to be named, confirmed that some members were planning to paddle out and disrupt the event.

The man said feelings were still strong around the coast about the impact an international event would have.

Mr Hareb said organisers would not be swayed by a small minority of protesters.

"We've just got to carry on and make sure this event happens properly," he said.

Surfing Taranaki executive officer Craig Williamson did not want to make an issue about the proposed protest, saying it was a "very small minority" who were against the event.

He confirmed representatives from Surfing Taranaki had met with groups against the event before Christmas and believed the issue had died down.

- © Fairfax NZ News