Sharing the Blue Derby mountain bike trails this weekend will be about 400 marathon runners, taking part in the two-and-a-half day Tassie Trail Fest.

The festival of the feet is returning to the North-East for the second time after its inaugural event in 2016 attracted more than 400 competitors.

Of those competitors, festival director Chris Ord from Tour de Trails estimated about 170 were interstate or international.

Eight races will be held, with the primary 44-kilometre marathon leading two half-marathons on Saturday and Sunday.

A 14km run takes place on Sunday, followed by a night run of the same length.

Two shorter 6.5km runs as well as free 2km kids’ runs both days will be rounded out by the time trial dash for cash 2km run on Monday.

For ultra runners seeking even more of a challenge, Ord said the multi-day madness competition will fit the bill, daring competitors to take on every event possible across the weekend.

Successfully completing the multi-day madness will mean completing a marathon, two 14km runs, a half-marathon – and the 2km time trial on Monday.

Describing Tasmania as a “hot spot” for trail running, Ord said choosing to bring Tour de Trails to the state was easy due to trail quality and variety.

“[Derby] just seemed like a great little spot to bring together the local community and [competitors], who would come here for two and a half days rather than just one,” he said.

“There’s a lot of crossover of trail runners who ride mountain bikes, and a lot of mountain bike trails are good running trails.”

Last year elite ultra runner Amy Lamprecht took out the queen of the Tassie Trail, completing a 44km run, a 14km run and the time trial for an overall time of 5:46:48, edging out West Hobart’s Yvette Edward (6:00:34).

Ord said he wasn’t yet sure what races Lamprecht would compete in this year.

“I’ve spoken to Amy and she’s still unsure what she’s going to enter ... she’ll definitely run something, but at this stage she told me she’s not sure if it’ll be the queen or multi-day madness,” he said.

The 2016 king of the Tassie Trails, Felix Weber from Germany, cruised up to the trails all the way from Hobart on his pushbike before casually taking out the royal crown on 5:13:54.

Online registrations closed Wednesday night, but competitors can still register on the day in Derby.

Bike riders keen to ride the Blue Derby trails will have access throughout the weekend with staggered closures planned.

For details on closure times and for more information visit tassietrailfest.com.au/faq