THE marathon men of Australian athletics cast lonely shadows on the dusty bluestone trail leading to the top of Mt McKay at Falls Creek.

The going is so tough they feel as though their chins are scraping along the barren and isolated track.

They could almost be running on a treadmill, albeit one set on a 45-degree incline and covered in loose gravel.

It is not a pretty sight in week two of a torturous three-week altitude training camp for Lee Troop, the only Australian to have registered an A-qualifying marathon time for the Beijing Olympics, and his coach, four-time Olympian Steve Moneghetti, at the popular winter holiday spot in the Victorian Alps.

Yet while the stinging uphill trail from Mt Beauty to Mt McKay might be deserted, back at base camp in Falls, it is anything but.

A distance-running renaissance has created some temporary summer vibrancy in the alpine centre.

There are runners everywhere, from Troop and superstar athlete Craig Mottram to a contingent of about 30 of Australia's most promising distance runners and a team from Essendon.

The problem for Athletics Australia, though, is making sure the crop of young guns keeps coming back as improved athletes, and possibly Olympians, for years to come.

The future of the sport in the country depends on it.

Troop, who has August 24, the date of the marathon in Beijing, circled on his calendar, has...