Vlad Shatrov had been hoping for three in a row, but it wasn't to be, with triathlete Courtney Atkinson taking the Six Foot Track Marathon honours on Saturday.
The Gold Coast runner completed the 45km race from Explorers Tree to Jenolan Caves in 3 hours 31 seconds, followed by Rhett Gibson, 3:35:23 and Shatrov, 3:36:57.
"Six Foot Track Marathon... congrats to everybody out there yesterday... it was a warm one," Atkinson posted to Facebook after the win.
Blue Mountains residents finished towards the front of the pack, with Woodford's Brendan Davies 15th in 3:51:58 and Loughlinn Kennedy from Blackheath 19th in 3:54:29.
Bullaburra's Jodie Earl was the fourth woman home in 4:16:06, and Lou Clifton from Mt Victoria fifth at 4:18:14. Steph Auston took the female winner's title in 3:48:22.
Earl, who was competing in her very first Six Foot Track Marathon, and is more widely known as Jodie McLeod, the author of children's book Leonard the Lyrebird, credits the birdlife for helping her through the race.
"My headphones failed and I couldn't listen to music, so I have the lyrebirds, black cockatoos and myna birds to thank for getting me up those hills," she said.
Six Foot Track Marathon veteran Peter Barnes, aged 60, from Wentworth Falls completed his 30th race on Saturday, matching the record set by Max Bogenhuber in 2014.
