Back home after winning his first national title - the New Zealand half marathon - in Palmerston North at the weekend, Inkster-Baynes (21) has a long-distance running career in mind that would take him through to the Olympics four years beyond Rio.
Inkster-Baynes said after his win he told his coach-manager, Val Burke, last year he wanted to compete at an Olympics "in probably eight years' time, possibly four but you can't rush the body into those things".
"Our game plan is definitely eight years in the making."
The host city for the 2020 Olympics will not be decided until September next year but the cities still in the running are Istanbul, Tokyo and Madrid.
Inkster-Baynes won the Palmerston North event, around the Massey University complex, in 1hr 9min 13sec - 12sec ahead of Chris Sanson, of Palmerston North.
He said his time was "pretty slow" for him and the undulating, slippery course and wet and windy conditions probably cost him 2min 30sec.
Inkster-Baynes moved to Wanaka from Christchurch in 2010 and enjoys the outdoors and the training terrain Wanaka offers.
He said he would have a couple of days off and then begin training for an event at New Brighton in October.
