For Launceston pair James Hansen and Sam Clifford, it seems to be in the genes.
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The second cousins were pushed by the elite national field at Sunday's Burnie 10.
But the men still finished inside the top 10 to lead the Tasmanian charge to the line.
Melbourne-based Hansen ran a time of 29.52, the first of the next group behind the first seven runners involved in the close sprint finish.
Hansen was satisfied with eighth amid his next goal to qualify for the 1500m at next year's Tokyo Olympics.
"The 10km has never been a strength of mine," he said.
"I put hard work in over the last few years to improve my fitness because I think that will translate into my 1500m better.
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"This was a minute and five seconds quicker than I ran last year in the Burnie 10.
"It was a quicker race last year and the conditions were better last year."
Legana's Sam Clifford went hard for 10th place, not far behind Hansen in 30.28.
The 17-year-old, who has dominated national schools cross-country titles, walked away proud of the time.
"It was about three and a half or four kilometres where I started to detach from that group, but it was great for the main group to be 10-15 metres in front because then I knew where I was," he said.
"I was on my own for the last two and a half kilometres and it was like what I do in training. I run on my own most of the time. I was hoping for that 30 and a half minutes or lower, given the wind was a westerly for the second half of the race."
Devonport world ironman champion Matt Brumby opted for the 5km race at Burnie after just winning in Hawaii.
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