The festival is a mainstay of the Hastings running roster and hosts a marathon, a half-marathon, a 10km dash, 5km fun run and a four-person team relay marathon each year.

It's next edition is scheduled for Sunday, October 4 just one week after the current government restrictions for COVID-19 are to end.

Beach to Brother organiser Michael Maher said the event was being reconsidered on an ongoing basis.

"Currently we are hoping the event will go ahead and are factoring in information on a day-by-day basis. We have pretty much organised everything and invested a considerable amount of funds to the event," he said.

"The main issue for us as at Beach to Brother right now is ensuring the Port Macquarie-Hastings Community are protected from any potential COVID-19 cases being brought into our beautiful region.

"If current government restrictions continue there would be no way we could operate the event. But leaving a decision until this time is not fair to those who are registered and who are continuing to register on a daily basis so we will be making a decision in the coming seven to 10 days.

"In the event that Beach to Brother has to be cancelled due to the pandemic, all participants will be offered the opportunity for a full refund or a transfer to the 2021 event, which is scheduled for September 19, 2021."

Each year local and visiting competitors in all events race up the side of North Brother Mountain in Dooragan National Park near Laurieton.

"Although the event brings a considerable amount of tourism into our region and has a fantastic economic impact, we believe at the moment it is more important to place the health and well-being of our region above this," said Mr Maher.

"We would hate to be personally responsible in any way for disrupting the minimal coronavirus cases we have seen in our region. Especially in the event that a potential participant comes to town unknowingly carrying the virus."

Mr Maher said organisers are in contact with NSW Health and other government agencies regarding the event and managing social distancing.

"Managing start lines is relatively simple. However stopping runners from running together throughout the event is impossible on our part, no matter what information we provide in our race briefs," he said.

"Management of aid stations is an issue as it is a difficult event, especially for the full marathon runners, for people to be fully self sustainable especially if we experience significant heat on the day.

"Managing the finish line atop North Brother mountain is also a logistical issue and would likely see the need for at least 10 to 12 buses to transport people off the mountain safely. At the moment we do not know if this is financially viable."

Almost 40 international registrations were received from the United States, New Zealand, Japan, and China since entries opened in 2019. International competitors have been either fully refunded or transferred to the 2021 event, Mr Maher said.

There are still national competitors registered from the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

Organisers are also in the process of creating a 12 week running series for locals to compete 5km or 10km weekly.

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