Merewether Beach has produced some of surfing’s all-time greats and now it will take its rightful place on the world stage with next year’s Surfest confirmed as a Challenger Series event.
The largest annual surfing festival in the country, Surfest will be Round 1 of the second-tier World Surf League (WSL) competition kicking off on June 1, 2025 with discussions underway about making it a permanent international fixture.
WSL President Andrew Stark said the 2025 version of Surfest will feature the biggest international field the event has hosted since 2020 with more than 120 athletes set to compete.
“The WSL is extremely excited to see such a historic event like Surfest return to the world stage as a Challenger Series competition in 2025,” Mr Stark said.
“The sport’s biggest names have competed at this event for almost four decades, and the continued success of Surfest is a testament to the passion of the local surf community.”
“We can’t wait to see the world’s best come back to Newcastle and battle it out for the Mark Richards Trophy once again.”
Merewether local and world number 13 Ryan Callinan, who currently competes at the highest level in the Championship Tour (CT) said it will be exciting to see a Challenger Series event in his own backyard.
“Having an event at home is going to provide a massive boost for my clubmates Jackson Baker and Philippa Anderson, as well as my good mate Julian Wilson who’s making his return to competition,” he said.
A lot would have to go wrong in Callinan’s 2025 CT campaign, including missing the mid-season cut, for him to end up back in the water at Surfest on the Challenger Series, but he said if it happened competing at his home break would be quite a consolation prize.
“I’d love to compete here anyway but hopefully it isn’t necessary… Just competing at home if I had no pressure would be amazing,” he said.
“But to start off the year if it was that way to have the Challenger Series at home it would make me feel a lot more comfortable surfing a place I know with all my family around me and the crowd cheering me on would be pretty incredible.”
Novocastrian and Surfest founder Warren Smith said the Challenger Series is where surfing dreams are realised and shattered.
“At the end of the six-event series, the top ten male and top five female surfers qualify for the 2026 Championship Tour, so every heat at Merewether Beach will be like a final,” Mr Smith said.
“The series features an incredible mix of young and experienced talent from Australia, North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. It also boasts the men’s and women’s Junior World Champions, as well as the men and women from the Championship Tour who don’t make the mid-season cut.”
“Some of the big names featured on this year’s Challenger Series include Callum Robson, Sally Fitzgibbons and Macy Callaghan, as well as our local contingent of Merewether Surfboard Club members Jackson Baker, Morgan Cibilic and Philippa Anderson.”
He also confirmed all of the traditional community events like the Evolution Charity Cup will be moved to May and run in the lead up.
“It will be one month of surfing festival in Newcastle that will culminate with the World Surf League Challenger Series here at Merewether Beach, the home of Mark Richards and a national surfing reserve, it is going to be a magic moment.”
The announcement follows strong support from Newcastle Council, with councilors unanimously backing a Lord Mayoral Minute last month to advocate for the international event, which will be broadcast to an audience of millions.