Surfing couple Mark Dovey and Lisa Hurunui have collectively blitzed the open fields at the New Zealand Surfing Championships in Taranaki.
Dovey is the new open men's national champion and girlfriend Hurunui has taken the open women's title for the second year running.
Dovey, from Mt Maunganui, beat off Gisborne's BlairStewart and Chris Malone to win today's final, held in one to two metre waves at South Taranaki's Kumera Patch.
Stewart battled Dovey for the duration of the final. In the dying minutes of the heat Stewart grabbed the lead with a well-surfed wave which scored an 8.0 out of 10.
To reclaim first position and the title, Dovey had to score better than a 7.2. With barely a minute to go he snagged a great looking set wave and unleashed a series of vertical manoeuvres, scoring a 7.75 to reclaim the lead and take out the title.
Earlier in the week, the top three seeds for the competition - Damon Gunness, Daniel Kereopa and Maz Quinn - were eliminated from the Open draw.
Gisborne's Hurunui completely dominated the woman's final, brilliantly surfing one wave for a score of 8.25.
Local surfer Jessica Terrill surfed well at the beginning of her final to take second place and Holly Quinn of Gisborne finished third.
In the junior men's final, Gisborne surfer Bobby Hansen beat Raglan's Leon Santorik and Aucklander Ben Hawker.
Favourite for the lonboard title, Michael Fitzharris from Gisborne was upset by Mt Mauganui's Craig Anderson. In third was Sam Cox from Raglan.
