Hot off a 100 mile (174km) race win, an in-form Brendan Davies is ready to defend his Western Sydney Marathon title on September 30.
The Woodford distance runner is gunning to retain his title for the third year and finish the Penrith event in about 2 hours 30 minutes.
But as the days begin to heat up, the temperature on race day will have a huge impact.
“If it’s a hot day I won’t even try for 2:30, it has to be a cool day,” the 40-year-old said.
“I will go out and be realistic about the pace I should be doing.”
The 42km event should fly by for Davies who won the Great North Walk (GNW) 100 Mile trail running event on the Central Coast in 19 hours 37 minutes on September 9.
He’s the only competitor to win the event twice in less than 20 hours.
“I never asked or checked my time, just ran within myself and let will be, be. In the end I was only 10min outside my own [2012] course record which had I been targeting I would have got easily. I spent a lot of time at aid stations, composing myself, being humorous with my crew and just not rushing the processes,” Davies said.
The win was a good confidence booster for Davies ahead of his entry in the Javelina Jundred, a 100 mile trail event in Arizona, US in October.
Mt Victoria runner Lou Clifton also competed in the GNW 100km event, and was the female winner in 11:09.