Surfing: Paige Hareb to compete in World Surf League Challenger Series

Paige Hareb will be one of three New Zealand surfers on the World Surf League challenger series. Photo / Getty Images

More than a decade into her professional surfing career, Paige Hareb is still experiencing some firsts.

This week, Hareb will line up for the Gold Coast Pro at the famed Snapper Rocks break in the first event on the World Surf League challenger series.

For Hareb, it will be her first appearance on the series, after forgoing the competition in 2021.

Like many athletes, the 31-year-old had her career held up by the travel restrictions coming into New Zealand and she couldn't risk leaving the country without having a voucher to get back in. Instead, she was essentially forced to take a year off work.

"At the time it felt like such a huge decision for me," she recalled.

"But now, I'm so happy I made that decision. I think it was the right one. It was so nice to have a break and a reset at home with friends and family. It's made me more excited about competing and travelling again this year. If I had that choice again, I would do exactly the same."

The reset seems to have been positive for Hareb early in her season. In January, she claimed her first two national titles (open women and over-30s), before heading to Australia to compete in the World Surf League regional qualifying series (QS) and earning her place on the challenger series (CS).

It did, however, take a bit of last-minute magic to qualify. Hareb needed a good result in the last event of the QS to earn her spot in the CS.

She made the final, finishing in third place.

"I was definitely a little bit nervous. I knew I needed a big result but I didn't know to what extent. Classic surfer, taking it heat by heat and I just got on a roll, started enjoying myself in the heats, completely forgot about what I needed and the next thing my friend was telling me I had qualified. It was pretty cool."

The CS was brought into the fray in 2020, replacing the QS as the step below the World Championship Tour (CT). Now, the QS is run on a regional basis, with the top surfers from each continent making up the CS. There, the athletes compete at eight of the world's best breaks, with the top seven women and 15 men at the end of the season qualifying for the following year's CT. Kiwis Billy Stairmand and Kehu Butler will compete in the men's CS.

The series starts in Australia, with the event at Snapper Rocks beginning on Saturday, before travelling through South Africa, the United States, Portugal, France, Brazil and concluding in Hawaii in December.

The start of the series coincides with the mid-season cut on the CT, and will see a lot of those athletes who lose their spot on the main tour look to work their way back on the CS. Those who survive the cut can also enter CS events, so the level of competition steps up in a big way.

"For me, it's starting to look like it's pretty much a lower form of the World Tour," Hareb said.

"Not just the top 17 women in the world, but the top 64 girls are amazing. The prize money's way less, but you're still travelling halfway around the world to several events. In my mind, it's the hardest tour to be on."