The Bathurst runner is now in recovery mode after competing in the North Face 100km trial run in the Blue Mountains last weekend.

Cole took to the extremely demanding course in the hope on reaching the finish line before the 30 hours cut-off mark.

While he considers himself just a bit of a “social runner”, Cole surpassed all his expectations by completing the course in 19 hours and 43 minutes in 106th position.

“It was a big day out and I guess you could say it was enjoyable in a sick sort of way,” he said.

By finishing inside the 20 hour barrier Cole also received a commemorative belt in acknowledgement for his amazing achievement.

Cole, who has been competing in marathons for the past few years, said the key to getting through such a long event was to break the course down into easy to do sections.

“It was a long day of running so I broke the run up into five kilometre sections and focused on them instead,” he said.

“Then I would think about the time I wanted to do for each part or when I would get to the next checkpoint and see my wife [Julie].

“By doing that, the two or three hour seasons between points passed relatively quickly.”

The 100km course started at the Fairmount Resort in Katoomba and took runners up and down the mountain side past the Three Sisters.

Cole said at one stage, 64kms into the run, the athletes ran up around 1600 stairs near Echo Point and during the race actually climbed the equivalent of halfway up Mount Everest.

Cole said during the day all of the scenery looked spectacular and helped to shift his focus away from the pain.

However for the eight hours he ran in dark, Cole turned his attention to something a little closer to home.

“I just had to focus for the entire day on seeing my wife and getting through to the next checkpoint,” he said.

“My wife supported me all day and every time I lobbed into a check point she was there and doing an excellent job.

“That’s what certainly drove me for the entire day.”

While he may have finished well behind race winner Andrew Kromer (10 hours and 22 minutes), Cole said nothing could match the feeling he had when he eventually crossed the line just before 3am on Sunday.

“The high I got at the end of the race was just incredible. It’s very hard to describe,” he said.

“I couldn’t jump for joy at the end but I was so chuffed to go under 20 hours.”

Cole said he would now enjoy a well deserved break before he considered competing in his next event.

“Physically my legs are not bad now, they are a bit tender and sore,” he said.

“But what I have noticed is that if I do something physical I get tired very quickly and that is something I think will be about for the next week.

“I certainly slept very well the night after the race.”

Meanwhile fellow Bathurst athlete Andrew Crowley teamed up with Lithgow runner Charlie Cross in the 50km teams event.

The runners completed half of the course each and finished seventh in the teams event with a time of 15 hours and 7 minutes.

“Both Charlie and I are very pleased with our efforts,” Crowley said.

“It was certainly the longest and toughest run I’ve ever done.”