The long-standing Newcastle contest has been through a number of different formats and for a time was a single-day event, but as it returns for it’s 56^th entry it’s clear it’s firmly embedded in Australia’s surfing folklore.

“There’s obviously a bit of conjecture about it all, but we know that it started [in 1962] and using that as a benchmark shows that it’s one of the oldest continuously running events in Australia,” Amy De Lore, media coordinator for the Classic, said.

“It has that great history around the competition, you look at past champions like Mark Richards, Michael Peterson, Nat Young and Roger Clements and can see that prestige.”

It’s a return to the glory days of old for the Mattara Classic as it approaches it’s 60^th anniversary, including reinstating the two-day format and adding more side-shows.

“The event was a lot more low-key last year, but now we have bigger budgets and a Newcastle City Council grant and that has given us the first steps back to the glory days,” De Lore said. “We’re back to two days now after a long time with just the single day.”

“We want to turn it into a two-day surfing festival, add in some retro events like a single-fin [division] to give a nod to the history of the event. We have the base for that now, and hopefully we can build on all the rest of it.”

Greg Keegan, the current Mattara organiser, has been involved with the Classic since the early 1980s and believes these are “some of the most positive steps for the event since the end of the 90s”.

“The 80s and the 90s were the dominant era of the event, but then we saw it ebb and flow for a long time after that,” Keegan said. “It’s on a resurgence now, and we’re trying to bring it back to where it was with credibility.”

“The basic plan is to have these years to build towards the 60^th anniversary, and then have $100,000 or more as the prize purse for that big milestone. We have the most entries in years for the 56^th, so it’s showing we’re on an upward trend.”

There will be three divisions for this year’s event: men’s and women’s opens, and an under-16s boys division.

The Classic will be held at South Bar Beach with the first men’s heat to begin at 8am, Saturday November 21.

The women’s open will be held Sunday, November 22.

The prize pool for the men’s division will be $3,000, and the women’s is set to be $2,000 after a donation from Robin Mann, the fiancé of a member of the Newcastle Surfing committee.

“We had a discussion about putting a decent amount up for the women’s competition and put up $1,000, and [Robin] contacted us and said he’d double it,” De Lore said. “It’s fantastic, it really gives the women a prize to fight for.”

The junior division will have a $500 first prize.