And Beach to Brother Trail Running Festival event director Mick Maher is confident he has found the ingredients that others may need to replicate.

Over 50 percent of the 450 competitors had travelled from around the state on Sunday to the region with millions of dollars anticipated to have been injected into the local economy.

Mr Maher said final figures had not been confirmed, but he was confident it would be "on par" with the last Beach to Brother event back in 2019.

"We're anticipating it's going to be up around the $6million mark which is fantastic to see that money come into our community," he said.

"It's not school holidays which is when we normally run the event and these people have not just done a day trip.

"Most turned up on Friday and quite a few stayed Sunday night as well so we have seen that boost in the economy I believe."

Not only is the region set to benefit economically, Mr Maher only had to browse through a couple of photos to tell him all he needed to know about what competitors made of the event.

They loved it.

Almost 500 smiling faces showcased competitors who were living up to the social media sell of "finishing on a high".

"I think I saw five or six grumpy photos and they were all on North Brother Mountain and I understand why they're a bit grumpy by that time as a marathon runner," he said.

"Our hashtag is 'finish on a high' and I really do believe people were on a high for the whole event this year. It wasn't just finishing on a high, people were on a high the whole time and it was great."

Mr Maher admitted it was now about adapting to the new normal in order to run COVID-safe events, for however long it took.

"It is something that we are going to have to adapt to for a period of time - whether it be 12 months, 24 months or five years," Mr Maher said.

"Especially when you look at Europe and they're having significant issues again with COVID relapse so I do think it will be a new event order."

While runners had to wear facemasks when going through any aid station or once they had crossed the finish line, there were very few complaints.

"Everybody surprisingly adhered to it. There weren't any complaints about it; we literally did not have one complaint when we were handing masks out. People were just happy to be at an event."

No date has been locked in for Beach to Brother 2022 although it was likely to be back in the more runner-friendly months of September or October.

"We've done the Queen's Birthday weekend a few times which is the daylight saving changeover and that enables people to have that lighter start of a morning," Mr Maher said.

"But the biggest factor we have to consider are tides. We try our hardest to ensure it is on as lower tide as possible."

The event director also thanked Busways Laurieton, Woolworths Lake Cathie, Your Discount Chemist and Percival Property and Enriched Health Care for their support.

"Busways provide us with a heavily discounted service on the Sunday and Woolworths Lake Cathie provide all the fruit at no cost at all each year," he said.

"They want spectators and participants to have a healthy option while they're on top of North Brother Mountain while Your Discount Chemist provided the facemasks and hand sanitiser free of charge.

"That ensured we were able to manage COVID safety at the finish line which was integral to running a COVID-safe event."

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