ALEX Hutchinson did not know what he had let himself in for when he entered the eight-kilometre Crust-Cronulla Spring Beach Classic on Sunday.

Firstly, the Canadian-born runner only realised the run was through sand after arriving at the Wanda Surf Life Saving Club starting line.

``I had no idea,'' he said, after placing a creditable second, although a long way behind race winner, Jeremy Horne.

The race, from Wanda Beach to Boat Harbour and back, was made more daunting because of the howling westerly, gusting to 50 knots, which made the trek back from Boat Harbour a real test of stamina.

"Tough, real tough,'' said Hutchinson, who finished about 50 seconds behind the experienced Horne.

Coincidentally, his Canadian girlfriend, Lauren King, also placed second in the women's event.

More than 100 entered the various categories, although the conditions meant the number of late entries was well down on the day.

Cronulla surf lifesavers like Nathan Smith (third in 31 minutes, 33 seconds) used the blustery conditions to "tune up'' for next month's iconic Coolangatta Gold on the Gold Coast.

But after a short opening sprint, they played second fiddle to race record-holder Horne, 35, from Beverley Park.

Just a week after placing third in the Sydney Running Festival Marathon, Horne drew away from the field on the run north to Boat Harbour, easily holding them off in the tough run back to Wanda. "A bit outside my record but the day wasn't going to see any records,'' said Horne afterwards, finishing in 30.13, or about four minutes outside his race record.

"I just wanted to go out hard, shake off any rivals, and hold on in the run back.''

Women's race record-holder Verity Tolhurst of Cronulla made it back-to-back victories, finishing in 34.18.

Coincidentally, she was also third in the women's division of last week's marathon. Third was Audrey Amiya-Hall (36.49).