Rose-Anna Hoey will not defend her Bermuda Triangle Full Challenge title and will only compete in Sunday’s marathon as she sets her sights on an even tougher race.

Hoey shaved more than five minutes off Dawn Richardson’s 2009 record of 4hr 00min 35sec last year, completing the marathon in 3:06.56 for a combined time of 3:55.05.

It was one of the highlights of her season, but Hoey has opted for just the marathon this weekend, as she prepares for the gruelling JFK 50-miler in New York in November.

“I’m just taking on the marathon this year as I’ve really mixed up my training with some cycling,” said Hoey, who was part of a group of six runners who competed in the Full Challenge to raise funds for Pals, the cancer charity.

The others were Kate Tomkins, Nicole Rozon, Matthew Viney, Anne Kermode and Ali Hochberg.

“The Full Triangle Challenge is incredibly tough — in my humble opinion it’s a lot more than twice as tough as the Half Triangle Challenge — and you have to respect the event series and put in the required work,” Hoey said.

“I really love that, but I don’t feel like I put enough into my running training to do all three events.

“The main reason I’m doing the marathon is that I want to qualify for the 50-mile Ultra Marathon race in November.

“It’s been on my ‘bucket list’ since my friend Laura Wright and I spoke about it in 2012.

“We had our children over the last few years, so now seems like the right time to try it out. Our friend Darin Cassidy is going to do it too, so we can all train together.”

Hoey warmed up for the race with victory in the Gosling’s to Fairmont Southampton race last weekend and expects the marathon to be challenging again.

Last year, she took on the challenge of running under 3:10 for the record and succeeded.

“I’m going to take the brave but stupid approach to the marathon and go out reasonably steady in the first half and try to hold on for the lonely second half,” Hoey said.

Some of the island’s top runners will miss the weekend’s races, including Chris and Ashley Estwanik and Lamont Marshall.

Kavin Smith, who returned to running this season after a long absence through injury, is listed for the KPMG Mile on Friday, but confirmed yesterday he would not be competing.

Trey Simons, who is studying overseas, was also listed for the mile, but his name has been removed from the updated list.