Dunedin marathon organisers could be excused for appearing a little nervous as they prepare for next year.
Race director Phil Coakes was "blown away" by the record 2369 runners - up from 1913 - in yesterday's event, with 218 in the marathon, 1370 in the half marathon and 781 in the half marathon walk.
Coakes was particularly thrilled with the numbers in the marathon, as this part of the event had struggled to attract competitors until the past two years.
"Up until three or four years ago, there appeared to be a slight decline in the full," he said.
A steady increase had seen this part of the event attract record fields in both 2008 and 2009.
Over the past seven years, the combined tally of competitors for the event has steadily increased between 8% and 11% a year.
This year, numbers were up 24%.
When Coakes sat down with his team earlier this year, the country was in the grips of a recession and all the talk was of economic doom and gloom.
Despite running one of the cheapest marathons in the country, the organisers were faced with the prospect of being forced to increase entry fees, and were prepared for reduced numbers as a result.
After raising the entry fees by $5 across the board, Coakes and his team then looked at the race T-shirt option, and to produce a higher-quality product meant increasing this charge by $10.
The organisers did not know what to expect as the cut-off date for early entries arrived in mid-August.
Race entry steward Maria Sleeman was speechless when she did her first tally of just over 2100 entrants.
"We were worried about the increased costs associated with it.
But I just couldn't believe it when I first downloaded the entries," she said.
The early warning given to Coakes and his team about the dramatic upturn in competitor numbers three weeks out from race day gave them ample warning to put in place increased infrastructure for yesterday's event.
Four runners were treated by St John Ambulance for heat exhaustion yesterday.
Two were treated during the race, and two at the finish line.
Two of the four runners were taken to hospital and later discharged.
