Martin, 22, gave himself a small confidence boost ahead of this Saturday's NSW 5000m State Championships campaign in Sydney by smashing his old mark by 25 seconds.

His previous long-standing Bathurst parkrun best time of 16:41, which he set in August 2016, sat untouched until Patrick Cantlon (16:35) bettered that effort in December 2019 and Bevan Lord (16:28) lowered it again a week later on New Years Day.

Martin's four-year stint with the Australian army has almost officially come to an end and the Bathurst local is back in his home city ready to start his teaching degree at Charles Sturt University.

"I moved back here in mid-December after being based at Adelaide at the infantry unit there, which was the seventh RAR [Royal Australian Regiment]. It was a long time over the four years but I'd learned a lot. I don't regret doing any of it," he said.

"I'd applied for university straight after school and was accepted but I thought I'd give the army a crack, so I deferred it. That eventually faded away the four years and I thought I'd apply again."

Martin said he's looking forward to getting back into a regular running routine over his first few months back home full-time.

"It's a different sort of fitness in the army. You don't get any time to do your own sort of training. There was a lot of pack marching and battle fitness, with the extra weight of the body armour," he said.

"I'd be training quite well and go out in the field for up to two months where I don't get the chance to do that training anymore, and you have to started again and find yourself back to square one.

"The goal was always to finish my four years there, come back and pick up my running again."

Learning among Ben St Lawrence's Run Crew over the past year has helped Martin regain his old running form, and a trip into the 15s over the five kilometres could be on the radar this Saturday.

Martin has reached that mark before, clocking a personal best of 15:40 last year.

He didn't carry any major goal into Saturday's run along the banks of the Macquarie River but was happy with how it played out.

"I've run a 16-flat at Adelaide a few months ago but I just went into Saturday's run just wanting to see how I'd go," he said.

"I haven't raced for a while, with COVID stopping a lot of things and in the army you can't race there, so I didn't have any major expectations. I just thought it would be nice if I could get near that course record.

"I paced it well and ended up coming home strongly over the past two kilometres."

Martin ran right on the heels of Max Martinez for the first three kilometres with splits of 3:17, 3:13 and 3:23 before cranking up the pace to come home in 3:11 and 3:19 over the back end of the run.

The fastest parkrun overall for Martin remains a 16-flat he ran at the Mawson Lakes event two years ago.

Martin's mother, Jodie, was the first woman home on Saturday, running 20:24.