On Thanksgiving Sunday, Cam Levins raced near his dwelling of Black Creek, B.C., profitable the Royal Victoria Half Marathon in a brand new course file time of 61:18 in entrance of his family and friends in preparation for the TCS New York Metropolis Marathon on Nov. 5. Levins broke the earlier file of 62:32 held by two-time British Olympian Jon Brown, which stood for 21 years.
Cruising alongside at ~2:50/km tempo. @CamLevins wins todays @VictoriaMarathn half marathon in a brand new course file of 61:18. pic.twitter.com/Z52m7YWk1k
— Trent Stellingwerff (@TStellingwerff) October 8, 2023
Working near dwelling meant Levins was in a position to race in entrance of his 94-year-old grandmother, Fern, and his dad and mom, Barb and Gus, who got here down from Black Creek. “I’m so happy with him,” stated Fern Levins of Esquimalt to the Victoria newspaper Occasions Colonist. “It’s not fairly often I get to see Cameron race dwell.”
“Vancouver Island will at all times be my dwelling, so racing right here is additional particular,” stated Levins. His ending time on Sunday was a minute shy of his Canadian half-marathon file of 60:18, set at Vancouver’s First Half final February.
The 34-year-old marathoner was slated to race within the half-marathon on the 2023 World Street Working Championships in Riga, Latvia, on Oct. 1, however modified his plans two weeks earlier than the championships, opting to race the Victoria half as an alternative, slightly than travelling internationally.
And after he may rejoice Canadian Thanksgiving together with his household – together with his 90+ 12 months previous grandmother pic.twitter.com/ZCczBq4fh1
— Trent Stellingwerff (@TStellingwerff) October 8, 2023
Levins completed practically three minutes forward of the second-place finisher, 2020 Olympic marathoner and reigning Canadian marathon champion Trevor Hofbauer, who ran to a private better of 64:07. Kip Kangogo of Lethbridge, Alta., rounded out the rostrum for third in 67:46.
“I felt good about my effort at present,” Levins instructed the Occasions Colonist. “It [Victoria] was undoubtedly a tough course, very like New York, serving to me to gauge, making me really feel fairly good about my marathon.”
Makenna Fitzgerald of Calgary gained the ladies’s half marathon in 1:17:30, beating second-place finisher Vancouver’s Eriko Soma by 58 seconds. Victoria’s personal Carley Gering took the ultimate spot on the rostrum for third in 1:18:57.
The 2023 TCS New York Metropolis Marathon might be Levins’s second marathon of the 12 months. Final March, he broke his Canadian file within the marathon for the second time in lower than a 12 months by working 2:05:36 to put fifth within the Tokyo Marathon. This marked the quickest time ever recorded by a North American marathoner, beating Khalid Khannouchi’s mark of two:05:38 from the 2002 London Marathon (which stays the American file). Levins’s Tokyo time was below the Olympic commonplace of two:08:10 and certified him for his third Olympic Video games in Paris subsequent July.
For full outcomes from the Royal Victoria Marathon weekend, click on right here.
