MOUNTAIN Queen Carly Isaac is within reach of running a marathon in under three hours.
The star Boort netballer was jubilant after finishing second in the 42km Cadbury Marathon in Hobart this month.
Carly made her way around the hilly course in three hours, 16 minutes and 10 seconds - 20 minutes behind the winner but a clear 15 minutes ahead of the next runner.
“The course was super hilly and not something I am really used to,” she said. “The last 500 metres was all uphill and two times more difficult than Wycheproof,” said Carly who won the Mount Wycheproof Queen of the Mountain race last September.
More than 100 women contested the New Year marathon  in Hobart where Carly improved on her last marathon time by almost five minutes.
“That was in Noosa last year and I’m now setting myself to head back there at the end of May with the aim of getting a sub-three hour time,” she said. “That’s the plan, to go better than the personal best I ran in Hobart.”
Carly trained up to 20km  a night in the weeks leading up to Hobart on flatter country around Boort.
“There were a lot of weeks - about seven weeks  - when I would easily do 100km in a week but there wasn’t enough hill training for the Hobart course!” she said.
“I arrived in Hobart the day before the race to check out the course and do a light run and just got straight into it on the day.”
Carly describes her nightly training routine as “competitive fitness ... always trying to improve my times”.
And after a “cruisier week” recovering from the marathon, Carly says she’s now back into routine that includes preparation for the North Central netball season.
She will again be a key part of Boort’s A Grade lineup, hoping to go one better in 2024 and claim the flag.