Wayne Allen wanted to go out before the hour rather than past it.
The Dunedin man, who has organised the Papatowai Challenge in the Catlins ever since it started in 1997, called it a day after the race on Saturday.
Mr Allen (70) said it was a tough decision to step away from organising the race, which had become very popular over the years, but felt it was the right thing to do.
"I always remember someone saying it is better to go out at a quarter to three than quarter past. I think it was Richie McCaw who said it," he said.
"It’s better to go out on a high than trying to stay with something for too long.
"It [the course] was a run I used to do with my mates, starting back in 1992 and they kept trying to twist my arm to get me to open it up to the general public. I thought about it for a while and decided to give it a go.
"I think in that first race in 1997 we got like 30 people and I thought that was tremendous. Now we get about 350 and it was a great day. We had heavy rain in the morning but it stopped and cleared up and the sun came out."
The course winds for about 15.5km through native bush, beach and country roads. The race has become a real community event for the Catlins and Mr Allen said he never thought it would take off as well as it did.
Mr Allen always had a holiday house in the Catlins and now he is retired he spends more than half his week in the Catlins.
Over the years, the Challenge had raised many thousands of dollars for the community.
Mr Allen said schools in the area, and Search and Rescue had benefited from proceeds from the event, something he was very proud of.
He said Sport Otago was keen for the event to continue with Sport Clutha getting involved.
In the event on Saturday, Dunedin veteran Glen Ferguson won in a time of 1hr 0min 31sec. It was the first time the race had been won by a veteran runner.
Dunedin runner Dani Nicolson won the women’s section, in 1:06.21, just beating home Bella Bloomfield.
Roger Leslie was the first male walker and Helen Pearce the first female home.
Chris Moffat, who has helped blind runners compete in the Challenge, was awarded the sportsmanship award.
