They made for the beach - Tradução em português

Olá Donay,

1. (idiomatic) To set out to go (someplace); to move towards.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/make_for

Então eu diria o seguinte:

1)Eles foram em direção à praia.

Dependendo do contexto, eu diria:

2)Eles correram para à praia.

A base da minha resposta é o pequeno texto abaixo.

An English BBC man was staying in my house in the village, hoping to film the whale hunt. Ernie said, " The whales don't like filming. " But what could I do, turn the BBC man out? One day, while my crew and I were down on the ice, a dangerous wind came up, and we left in a hurry, observing widening cracks as we made for the beach. After that, no whaling was possible for two weeks.

Pena que a baleia não comeu a todos!

Marcio Alexandre