TACKLING some of the world's great endurance trail runs or marathons is tempting Taree's Luke Murray.
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The 33-year-old is relatively new to the sport, with the weekly 5km Taree parkrun first whetting his appetite.
From there he progressed to longer and more arduous events.
Last Sunday Murray won the 50km Duval Dam Buster at Armidale in 4.57.07. There were 30 starters, Murray finishing a touch over 50 seconds ahead of the second place getter. His next assignment will be the Beach to Brother on October 22, a race that starts at Town Beach Port Macquarie and finishes atop North Brother Mountain. Murray could then take on the 100km Ultra-Trail Kosciuszko on Friday, December 8.
However, he admits the idea of running overseas holds some interest.
"I wouldn't mind doing some of the bigger trail runs overseas, that'd be good and maybe a marathon,'' he said.
Murray said the dam buster started in the cool at 6.30am but it was steamy by the time he crossed the finish line.
"The first part was straight up the mountain and then it was pretty good for 20kms. Then we were back up the mountain and that was a slog,'' he said.
"The weather was pretty sapping and the altitude made it even harder.''
His aim was to finish inside 5 hours.
"I did that pretty comfortably because I ended up running 52kms,'' he said
He was a first time starter so he sat back and judged the pace early.
"I went to the front after 3 or 4kms and stayed there,'' he said.
Murray recovered quickly.
"I had one day off, that's all, then I was back into running again,'' he said.
His preference is to run trail races but he has the more traditional 42.2km marathon in his sights.
"I couldn't do the Sydney (marathon) because of the dam buster. But I'll get around to one eventually,'' he assured.
But that's in the future. Right now he's concentrating on the Beach to Brother. This will be this first attempt and potentially his biggest challenge.
"The mountain we climbed last weekend, it was pretty steep and pretty similar to North Brother,'' he said.
However, the opening 40kms or so in the Beach to Brother will take in coastal trails and beach runs, with the last 3.7kms ascending North Brother Mountain.
"That's going to be pretty filthy,'' Murray said.
