Maitland runner Dillon Rinn has become the first person to complete the 217km distance at the Elephant Trail Race.
The event was on in the Cairncross State Forest over the weekend of July 14-July 16.
Mr Rinn completed the distance in a time of 43 hours and 55 minutes. His watch recorded the distance as being 225km.
It was completed with eight laps of 28.1km.
"I'm only just allowing it all to sink in and really take in the distance covered," Mr Rinn said.
"It's also now the longest distance I have personally covered."
Mr Rinn is no stranger to the Elephant Trail Race, after competing in the 160km distance as his first ever running event in 2018. He returned in 2020 to run the 100km distance with a weight vest, where he broke a world record.
The Elephant Trail Race has been running for the past six years and there have been a number of attempts to complete the 217km distance by athletes. However, none have been successful.
Mr Rinn said the weather made all the difference in 2023.
"It was perfect with no recent rain and no exhausting heat," he said.
"[These factors] created a faster race and a great opportunity for the distance to be conquered."
For the entire race, Mr Rinn did not sleep.
"If I gave myself the option to nap, I would not make the cut-off time," he said.
"At one moment on my sixth lap out in the darkness of the second night alone, I asked myself 'what am I doing?'," he said.
"This thought was quickly erased and I did not allow myself to think anything negative from that point on."
Mr Rinn said he had a fantastic support crew , including his partner Brooke Peters and his coach Benn Coubrough from Stroke No Limits Coaching.
Benn, along with friends Anthony Lamb and Steve Kelly paced Mr Rinn towards the end of the race.
They also made sure he was taking in the correct amount of food and liquids.
"Without a doubt, I would not have been able to finish the race within the time frame without these people," he said.
"I owe the entire accomplishment to them."
Mr Rinn enjoys pushing himself to his limit and helping to raise money for charities.
In February he ran 50km each day for 50 days (2500km in total over summer) to raise awareness and funds for Beyond Blue.
Mr Rinn is organising another fundraiser by riding from Sydney to Perth, and running back from Perth to Sydney.
He plans to put in another strong performance at the Elephant Trail event for the 160km distance in the future.
