Surfing: Susan defends his South Island surfing title

What a week for Mount Maunganui surfers.

Following the remarkable performance of a cluster of young Mount grom surfers in New Plymouth over the weekend, JC Susan has claimed his first New Zealand Pro Series title - winning the 2013 South Island Championships completed at St Clair Beach, Dunedin on Sunday.

The final day of the event was held in clean 1.5m waves with excellent surface conditions.

Susan, a student at Otago University, won the final over Piha surfer Zen Wallis, Hayden Brain (Chch) and local surfer Joshua Thickpenny (Dun).

In a tightly contested low-scoring final, it was Susan with a score of 11.60 who did enough to defend his title after taking an early lead.

"I got one straight off the bat then got another wave in the middle of the final before the ocean went flat as the tide came in," said Susan.

"I am so stoked to back up my fourth place at the Rip Curl Pro two weeks ago with this win and also to defend my title here, especially now that the event is nationally rated."

Susan has been in great form of late and the win this weekend will see him climb three places to third overall on the New Zealand Pro Series ratings.

Grace Spiers (WGM) returned to the winner's dais, taking out the Open Women's Division in emphatic style. Spiers posted a 13.17 point heat total to win out over Hayley Coakes (Dun), Alexis Poulter (Rag) and Tash Mattingly (Dun).