Two athletes have smashed expectations by running for 76 hours straight in one of the most brutal last-person-standing ultramarathon races in regional Victoria. 

The King of the Hill competition was held in Pyalong at the weekend, where 60 men and women from across the country and overseas ran a 3.2-kilometre loop with 266 metres of elevation on the hour, every hour until one person remained.

The event is the first of its kind and was designed to psychologically and physically push athletes to their absolute limit.

Most runners lasted about 24 hours, but 31-year-old Pyry Liukkonen from Far North Queensland and 33-year-old Piotr Babis from Tasmania tapped out together after an astonishing 76 hours, running 240 kilometres each.

A regular marathon is 42.2 kilometres long.

"We've both done 75 laps over two hills in Pyalong on some pretty hot days. We both decided together that that was it for us."

Mr Liukkonen said it felt great to share the win.

"We've spent four days and three nights grinding it out together and to get to the end where one person walks away with a $10,000 prize and the other nothing, it would just feel wrong," Mr Liukkonen said.

"We could have kept going, but we thought it would eventually have to end."

Running up that hill 

Mr Liukkonen said he, along with many other competitors, had been preparing for months.

"Because I live in Far North Queensland, it's very close to a mountain called Walsh's Pyramid. I've been basically running up and down that hill multiple times a week for many months," he said.

"It definitely helped me to go way further than what I'd ever done before and what I was capable of.

Bendigo resident and local police officer Ross McPhee lasted 69 hours, coming in third place behind the two winners.

"I actually really enjoyed it," Mr McPhee said.

"It wasn't until my very last lap, I damaged my foot and came to the decision that my race was over then."

Mr McPhee said the hardest hours were experienced early on in the race.

"When you know the race is going to go for a really long time, you know such a long and painful number of hours are ahead," he said.

"Once you get deep into the race that gets a little bit easier, you know you're getting to the pointy end."

Above and beyond expectations

Race director Ethan Fleming said it was a whirlwind event, and competitors went above and beyond expectations.

"They've done 10 million times better than we thought. The winners have just blown it out of the water," Mr Fleming said.

Mr Fleming said he hoped to continue running the event annually.