Raglan surfers Billy Stairmand and Maya Mateja have claimed the premier divisions of the 2026 New Zealand Surfing Championships with Billy taking an unprecedented ninth title while Maya chalks up her second.
Billy’s run at the nationals have been puzzling and controversial over the past four years – he last won a title way back in 2021. Breaking the jinx this year 36-year-old Stairmand had to battle the largest field of Open Men’s surfers in the past two decades for this win.
By his own admission battled to find his feet during the seven-day event, “I had a couple of scrappy heats this week, it was small most of the week but contestable and I just couldn’t find my rhythm,” he admitted. “I actually changed up my boards today too which was good and I saved my best performance until last.”
Stairmand finished with a 17.84 point heat total for the win.
“I started with that left hander and got an 8.67 then I got a right that allowed three good turns and I thought it was better,” he added of his second scoring ride – a 9.17. “My ninth title feels real good. I’m stoked on the win, especially going into Hawaii next week, where it looks like we’ll be in for some good swell … the conditions will be a bit different to here, that’s for sure.”
Stairmand travels to Hawaii on Tuesday to contest the second last WSL Challenger Series event of the series.
Defending National Champion Alexis Owen was the only surfer to stay in reach of Stairmand posting an 8.33 point ride to open the final. Needing a near perfect 9.51 point ride for the win, the Dunedin surfer had to settle for runner up. Taranaki surfer Daniel Farr finished the final in third place and together with first time finalist Cooper Roberts (Mnt) in fourth, was left requiring a combination of scores to match Stairmand.
The Open Women’s final was an edge-of-your-seat match up with 0.67 points separating first from fourth with the lead swinging several times through the 25 minutes. Seventeen-year-old Maya Mateja grabbed the win late and on her last scoring ride of 5.73 to post a 12.80 heat total for her second title, her first coming in 2024.
“I feel so happy and blessed, super grateful to be here with my family, to enjoy the event and get the win this week,” offered Mateja. “They were really hard conditions today. I didn’t know what was going on out there because I couldn’t hear the scores coming out. The other girls were surfing good, so I knew I had to concentrate on getting more good waves for the win and it wasn’t until I came into the beach that I found out that I had done enough.”
Mateja said she was proud to win alongside Billy as he is someone she looks up to. “I love his surfing,” she smiles. “It means a lot to me to win alongside him today and for us to take two titles back to Raglan.”
Second and third placed surfers Ariana Walker (Mnt) and Leia Millar (Piha) both finished in fourth with Walker getting the nod by way of her 7.40 point ride as the highest of the two surfers.
Walker sat patiently and wait for a final good ride after taking the early lead in the final but the young surfer fell short by the time the final hooter sounded. Millar again only needed a small 6.11 ride for the win in her first year out of the age groups but the conditions didn’t give her the opportunity to challenge for her first title. While finishing fourth, Alani Morse (Rag), was never out of the title race after surfing five heats on the final day of the event, needing a small 5.4 point ride for the title.
In the junior divisions it is was Alexis Owen (Dun) who secured the win in the Under 18 Boys alongside Poppy Entwisle (Tara) in the Under 18 Girls Division. Owen completed the full set of age group titles having previously won the Under 14 and 16 Boys Divisions. For Entwisle, she added to her 2022 title in the Under 14 Girls Division. For the Under 16 Division’s it was Vitor Bauermann (Mnt) that defended his title in the boys division and the young Lola Groube (Pau) winning her first ever title for the Under 16 Girls.
Jaxon Willows (Mnt) and Izaro Williamson-Sasia (Tara) won the Peter Byers Most Outstanding Performance Award for the event after the two young surfers claimed double titles in the longboard divisions winning the open and age group divisions.
The finals day was contested under moody skies with unruly 1.5m waves at Makorori Beach.