Chris Lenkic breaks Beach to Brother trail festival course record

He walked away with second place.

When he returned to the festival this year on Sunday, October 22, Lenkic not only placed first but he broke the course record by 12 minutes.

"It was a good feeling, a good result," he said.

"I think it was certainly something I was trying to achieve and I had the course record as a goal so it was good to get there."

"It was really good conditions as well for a fast race so I ended up taking a fair bit more time than I was aiming for."

The course record champ had returned to running four years ago after a decade long break.

Beach to Brother was part of his initial goal to run a half marathon but due to COVID-19 interruptions, he ended up racing the full marathon instead in 2021.

"I just sort of kept building from there," he said .

"I kept increasing the distances that I race and my training kept building on from there."

This isn't the only marathon that the Hallidays Point resident has signed up for.

Lenkic will returning to train for the whopping 67 kilometre trail run at the Ultra-Trail Kosciuszko event in December.

"[The win] definitely gives me a good confidence boost," he said.

"And it was good to race against some other people and see where I'm at basically."

Event founder and director Mick Maher said that the result was outstanding and should be celebrated well.

"There was a significant tail-wind which would have helped with this," he said.

"But the heat in the mountain could also have hindered a runner."

The approximately 400 competitors at the weekend event faced heat peaking in the low 30s with medical teams providing bags of ice and bottles of water to those on the stairs.

"The stand out this year was the participants' determination in the heat," Maher said.

"They showed true grit to keep moving on a very hot and humid day."

Maher said he would love next year's event to be 20-21 degrees Celsius with a slight breeze with no rain or thunderstorms.

" All we really want is to make sure everyone has fun," he said.

"Everyone finishes with a smile, and everyone challenges themselves and reaps the reward at our iconic finish line."

Enriched Health Care 42K Team Relay

Tarkine Marathon

Hammer Nutrition Half Marathon

Men & Women at Work 10km

Busways 5km

IN OTHER NEWS: