Played between Dubbo College, Bathurst High School and Orange High School, the competition pits the three schools up against each other in a range of sports across a pair of two-day carnival-like spectacles.

Each school gets a chance to host one of their rivals in rugby league, tennis, netball, athletics, soccer, basketball and hockey across their two days at home.

Dubbo College's Craig May said the returning Year 12 students are already eager to get back into the action after Orange won the Astley Cup back.

"Everyone is onto right out of the gate, to be honest, we've only just got back to school and it's a talking point across the board," he said.

"The kids that have been involved with before are pumped, 100 years adds a special page to it. It's a highlight of the sporting calendar, it's been around for 100 years so you can imagine how many people it has touched during that time."

Dubbo broke their near decade-long Cup drought back in 2021 when they were awarded the title for the first time since 2012.

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But with the majority of those victorious students now graduating, it is up to a new generation.

One of the biggest events on Dubbo College's calendar, May is confident students will know just how much it means to the community, with some having family members who have played before.

"We've got great grandparents and so on, there are so many people from different aspects who have competed in it over the years," he said.

The school year only began this week but May said behind the scenes, a lot of work is being done to ensure they appropriately celebrate the anniversary of the event.

"Everyone is looking forward to it, we are just trying to get everything organised at the moment," he said.

"We are looking at our sponsors right now and we've had some loyal ones support us over the past few years with our uniforms.

"We are working on our uniform designs and we have just put it out there for people to design a logo for the celebration so there is certainly lots happening.

"Over the next few weeks the teams will be starting to get chosen who will compete."

Dubbo's first Astley Cup round will take place against Orange in Orange on June 15 and 16.

Bathurst will then hit Dubbo more than a week late on June 29 and 30 for their battle with the school.

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