Cam Levins, from Black Creek and Courtenay, set the new men’s Canadian marathon record on Sunday.
The 29-year-old Levins completed the 42.2 km Toronto Waterfront Marathon in a record-breaking two hours, nine minutes, and twenty-five seconds.
The previous record, set by Jerome Drayton in 1975 in Fukuoka, Japan, clocked in at two hours, ten minutes, and nine seconds, and was undefeated for 43 years.
One of the most inspiring runs in Canadian running history. Thank you @CamLevins for wowing us at #STWM What a special experience! @scotiabank pic.twitter.com/0D9EUxDxQd
— CanadaRunningSeries (@RunCRS) October 22, 2018
“The list of people to recognize from today is countless. This was a decade in the making and I want to say THANK YOU and express my gratitude for all the people and process that made this happen,” says Levins in an instagram post.
“First and foremost, my family- everyone was here in #toronto this weekend, which rarely happens. Thank you for making this a priority for the year and for supporting my passion even when I was on crutches and couldn’t walk.”
An Olympian
An athlete for years, before the Toronto marathon Levins competed in the 2012 London Olympics for the 5,000 and 10,000 metre events, placing 14th and 11th respectively.
After the olympics, he competed in the the 2013 World Athletics Championship in Moscow, Russia and placed 14th in the 10,000 meter race. In 2014, he took home the bronze medal for the 10,000 metre race at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Now, Levins has set his sights on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and plans to participate in the national qualifiers for the marathon category.
Levins also took home a hefty paycheque for his stunning marathon race. He received $6,000 for placing fourth in the race, and for being the top men’s runner, and also earned a $43,000 bonus for beating the previous Canadian record, with $1000 being awarded for every year that the record went unbroken.
Not bad for the runner’s first full-length marathon.
