A REUNION of two long-lost mates and the rebirth of a local legend will make this year's Bird Rock Memorial one to remember.
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Surfing sensation Marcus Brabant is a household name in local surfing, boasting a plethora of results from a successful professional career as a grommet and later as a serious World Tour competitor.
Brabant won the Bird Rock when he was 14, and again when he was 24.
After a long dry spell, the 42-year-old has finally waxed-up his board again, and is now set to surf alongside mate Andy McMahon in the event's retro single-fin division.
Brabant said he was "absolutely wrapped" to be spending the next two days in the water with old friends.
"It's just such a special comp for the locals,"he said, "it means a lot and it's probably the only comp I know of that has a memorial every year. I've just been so busy working, and everyone sort of loses touch as you get older. It's going to be unreal to get back in the water with the boys."
Both men will ride the same style of boards they used when they started.
"It's really respecting how it all began, and how much it has changed," said McMahon, who can't wait to surf again with Brabant. "I can remember the first guy bringing a thruster into town we'd never seen anything like it before."
McMahon said he remembered training with his mate as he chased his dreams of being a professional surfer.
"He was in a league of his own back then," McMahon said.
The pair surfed as stunt doubles for a movie filmed in Port Macquarie called Third Wave.
This weekend, they'll be showcasing their skills again unfortunately for McMahon, Brabant admits he has been practising.