Despite from the nation's capital Torley has made the central west his own since the championships' establishment in 2017, winning back-to-back overall titles along with triumphs in his age group as well.

In particular Orange's leg has been a happy hunting ground for the 20-year-old, just last year he won both the Athlete's Foot Half Marathon and the five-kilometre event too, and to top that off he finished fourth in the Westfund Health Insurance 10km too.

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"Josh Torley is back, he's returning to compete in the half marathon, 5km and 10km events again," Orange Running Festival's Mel Bolton, who'll run the 10km event herself, said, before giving some insight into the incredible growth of the Orange event.

"Entries are up by 25 per cent this year from [2018] and we've got over 1500 entries so far. Of those 40 per cent are locals from Orange and 55 per cent are from NSW, with the other five per cent from interstate.

"We've got one international competitor too, from Canada, and our oldest competitor are 76 and 79 years old."

Bolton pointed to Ursula Wilson and Mitch Williamson as the best of the Orange hopes, based on the fact they were podium finishers last year.

Wilson was the second woman across the line in last year's JP Hotel Brokers Marathon while Williamson ran third in the 5km event, and also finished sixth overall in the championships despite only polling in two legs.

In an exciting technological update for the festival this year will also feature live tracking, which allows runners to be tracked the entire way around their respective courses.

NSW Regional Distance Running Championships coordinator Andrew Baulch said he's stoked to see the Orange event's continued growth, which in some ways mirrors the overall event's growth.

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In 2017 the championships had a total of 95 athletes run in two or more events and then exploded to 271 last year. Baulch predicted that growth to continue this year and in 2020 too, particularly if the expansion proposed for next year goes ahead.

"Next year we're hoping to bring a southern race into the championships in the Murray River Marathon and a northern event too in Newcastle's festival," he explained.

"If we can include those events we'll drag people from those regions into our events here, which should boost numbers.

"I'm very excited (for this year's championships), last year the results were great and then last year people really woke up to the fact there's five other events in the region (outside of Orange).

"I hope the kind of (participation) increases Mel referred to are because of the regional distance running championships and this year I'm looking forward to a tremendous set of events again."

The 2019 Orange Running Festival kicks off on Saturday afternoon with the Little Caesar's 2km Junior Dash, at 4pm at Gosling Creek.

The main events are all on Sunday, with the marathon starting at 6.30am, the half marathon at 6.45am, the 10km at 9am and the 5km events from 10.30am.

In terms of the championships Orange's leg is followed by events at Bathurst in April, Mudgee and Dubbo in August and Forbes in October, before the Carcoar Cup Festival wraps it up in November.