Running News Daily

The world of distance running has lost one of its greats. Jerome Drayton, the Canadian marathon record holder for over 40 years, passed away early today at the age of 80. A true pioneer in Canadian distance running, Drayton inspired generations of athletes with his remarkable performances on the international stage.

Born in Germany before immigrating to Canada, Drayton became one of the most dominant marathoners of his era. He competed in the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City and the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, proudly representing Canada. His most famous victory came at the 1977 Boston Marathon, where he became the first Canadian winner in 34 years. Drayton was also a three-time champion of the prestigious Fukuoka Marathon in Japan, one of the world’s most competitive races at the time.

Drayton’s Canadian marathon record of 2:10:09, set in 1975 at Fukuoka, remained untouched for an astonishing 43 years until it was finally broken in 2018. His dominance and consistency made him one of the most respected marathoners globally. He competed for the Toronto Olympic Club under the guidance of coach Paul Poce, a National Team Coach who helped shape many of Canada’s top distance runners.

Beyond his achievements, Drayton was admired for his humility and sportsmanship. Those who had the chance to meet him, including at club banquets, remember him as an inspiring presence and a true gentleman.

His contributions to Canadian distance running will never be forgotten. Jerome Drayton showed Canadian runners what was possible, and his legacy will continue to inspire future generations.

Rest in peace, Jerome, and thank you for everything you gave to the sport.

On Monday, May 22, the Toronto and Canadian running community lost a historic coach with the passing of Paul Poce. In 1954, Poce founded the well-known Toronto Olympic Club, which still stands as the city’s oldest running club.

Born in Toronto in 1924, Poce began running after participating in boxing during his teens, believing that running was a better sport. His athletic career started under legendary coach Lloyd Percival, who coached him while training with the Toronto Red Devils.

Poce went on to coach 13 Olympians, including former Canadian marathon record holder Jerome Drayton; and held the role of head athletics coach for Team Canada at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and distance coach for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich and the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.

Under Poce, Drayton set a Canadian marathon record of 2:10:09 in 1975, which stood for over 40 years until Cam Levins broke the record in 2018. He also set a world record in the 1970s in the 10-mile race and was sixth in the marathon at the 1976 Olympics. Before Drayton’s accolades, Poce recruited him into distance running and the Toronto Olympic Club.

Poce coached with Toronto Olympic Club into his 90s and was inducted into the Canadian Road Runners Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 2010.

“Poce had a long and full life, living into his late nineties, and was coaching and mentoring right up until the end. I’m sure many will agree that he was universally respected and admired within our Canadian Running community and beyond. He was loved by so many, as he gave so much to everyone within his scope of influence.” – Harvey Mitro (sub-four-minute miler, former national team runner and author).

“I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Paul Poce, not only a former coach of mine, but also a true legend in the world of coaching. His remarkable 60-year tenure with the Toronto Olympic Club is a testament to his unwavering dedication and passion for the sport. I have no doubt that his impact will endure through the countless athletes whose lives he has influenced, both on and off the field of play. Paul’s commitment to his craft, along with his ability to inspire and mentor athletes, will forever be remembered. He was a truly exceptional coach and an extraordinary individual. His legacy will continue to shine brightly, serving as a guiding light for generations to come.” – Paul Osland (Athletics Ontario CEO, former national team member and Olympian)

“In a testament to how good a Paul was, when I joined the TOC junior program to coach in 1975, TOC runners owned all of the senior men’s Canadian records from the 800m to the marathon. Although I was never formally coached by Paul, he was omnipresent if not physically, but in spirit. When you were in his presence, he always was there with a quick pick-you-up quip after a bad race and just as quick with the praise when a good race was run or a PB set. Thank you Paul for all you did for running and Track & Field in Canada. RIP!” – Jerry Kooymans (Canadian Masters Athletics Hall of Fame Member and Former Toronto Olympic Club coach).

Canada’s Cameron Levins is racing the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday, he will be looking to improve his own national record of 2:07:09, which he set last summer during the Eugene World Athletics Championships.

Asked if he will be going after the 2024 Paris Olympic entry standard of 2:08:10 or the 2023 Budapest World Athletics Championships standard of 2:09:40, he told Athletics Illustrated, “I think we’re waiting to see what the pace options are before making that decision, but certainly looking for a personal best and not just standard.”

Levins set a new Canadian half-marathon record on February 12 at the First Half Half Marathon clocking a 60:18. He finished 4:03 ahead of his nearest competitor. Although that time, according to World Athletics’ points performance scale is almost, but not quite, as good as his marathon best, it was run in less than ideal conditions. For example, in Eugene, there was a highly competitive field to race with — to bring the best out of him. Additionally, in Vancouver, although not overly challenging, the weather was cool and windy. The general consensus is he could have run the First Half Half Marathon a little faster, yet. Perhaps right at the level of his national marathon record. So, we know from that performance he is in great shape.

Looking at his options in Tokyo, Levins has a fast course and runners looking for a fast time and prize money.

The field is led by Ethiopian Lemma Sisay who has run as fast as 2:03:36 back in 2019 at the Berlin Marathon. He has also run at least three other sub-2:07-marathons. As it has been four years since Sisay set his best, anyone of Kenyans Bernard Koech (2:04:09), CyBrian Kotut (2:04:47), Titus Kipruto (2:04:54), Ugandan Stehen Kissa (2:04:48), Ethiopian Deso Gelmisa (2:04:53) could challenge for the win. There are also several fast Japanese runners led by Kengo Suzuki with his 2:04:56. He holds the national record from Otsu, Japan two years ago. There are six others who have run 2:05 to 2:07 — right in Levins’ range.

The 24-year-old Kipruto finished second in the Amsterdam Marathon last October — less than five months ago. He was beaten only by Ethiopian Tsegaye Getachew by five seconds. Gelmiso, just 25 and Kipruto won the 2022 Valencia and Milano Marathons respectively. If the weather is ideal expect a couple of 2:03 marathons in Tokyo. Currently the forecast is trending in the right direction with projected highs of 13-16 degrees.

Prior to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Levins ran several marathons that ended in disappointment. These included the London Marathon in poor weather as well as Chandler, AZ, where he looked fresh at 32 kilometers into the race, running with the lead pack, only to fade to a 2:12:15 clocking. At the 11th hour, he boarded a plane for Fürstenfeld, Austria and ran a small marathon event just fast enough to qualify for the Olympics at 2:10:14. However, by the time he go to Sapporo, where the event was held, some 800 kilometers north of Tokyo, it was hot at 34 degrees celsius, and perhaps he had run too many marathons leading up. The standard was 2:11:30 at the time.

The 33-year-old Vancouver Island native has had big highs with breaking the Canadian marathon record three times, competing in two Olympic Games and at one time holding the national 10,000m record. Anything can and often does happen in a marathon event. Expect Levins to improve his own national marathon record and perhaps run 2:06 plus or minus a few seconds if all works out for him.

It was not long ago that the 43-year-old Canadian record was stuck at a modest 2:10:09 by Jerome Drayton from his run in Fukuoka, Japan in 1975. Excellent Canadian marathon runners Reid Coolsaet, Dylan Wykes, and Eric Gillis among others had led the Canadian Marathon resurgence. Levins has taken the mantle from there and has run with it to repeat records. The standard he has set and will likely continue to, will be a benchmark for up and coming Canadians to follow. Perhaps to put Canada back on the global marathon map.Levins recently signed with Asics as his new shoe sponsor. Until 2021, he was with HOKA and prior to that Nike with the now defunct Nike Oregon Project that was led by the now banned Alberto Salazar. Levins is now coached by fellow Vancouver Island runner Jim Finlayson.

At Japan’s Fukuoka Marathon in 1975, Canada’s Jerome Drayton smashed his Canadian record from 1969 to win the marathon in 2:10:09 – a record that stood for 43 years until Cam Levins broke it at the 2018 Toronto Waterfront Marathon (2:09:25). When Levins set the record, he ran in the Hoka Carbon Rocket X, a shoe with carbon-plated technology Drayton did not have 43 years prior. Both times are remarkable, but it brings into question what Drayton’s time would translate to today if he had had carbon-plated shoes. 

In the 70s, the Fukuoka Marathon had the reputation as the unofficial world championship, as organizers would invite the best marathoners from around the world to Fukuoka to compete. Drayton won the race three times in seven years, beating the likes of marathon greats American Frank Shorter and Japan’s Shigeru So (who held the world record from 1978 to 1980).

When Drayton set his record he wasn’t wearing the Adidas Adizero Pro or Nike Vaporfly. He had the Adidas SL76 on his feet, which was described as ‘the shoes for all seasons,’ built for pounding the roads in the marathon and jogging around the block. The shoe featured super-light technology, a ghillie loop lacing system and an EVA midsole – in short, a lightweight, flat running shoe. 

In a 2021 video from Brigham Young University student Easton Allred, he discussed the development of carbon-plated shoes with a professor of biomechanics, Dr. Iain Hunter, who studies how people can run faster by the way they move. The two discussed whether carbon-plated shoes affect athletic performance and how much time they could take off each kilometre.

Hunter found that the top carbon plated shoes can take off two to three seconds per kilometer.

If you take Drayton’s time of 2:10:09 and take two seconds off each kilometre, it correlates to approximately 84 seconds off his time (2:08:45). Again, this calculation is hypothetical, but that time would be a record and untouched by any Canadian runner to this day.

The Canadian marathon record holder announces on his Instagram that he is parting ways with the brand.

After spending three and a half years with Hoka, the Canadian marathon record holder Cam Levins announced on his Instagram that he has left the brand.

During his tenure, Levins broke two Canadian records, including Jerome Drayton’s Canadian record of 2:10:09 that stood since 1975. He ran 2:09:25 at the 2018 Toronto Waterfront Marathon to become the first Canadian to break 2:10. At the 2018 World Half Marathon Championships in Valencia, Spain, Levins broke the Canadian 20K record (59:09) on his way to a top 30 finish and a PB of 1:02:15.

The reason for Levins’s departure has not been announced, but his departure marks the third Canadian athlete to leave Hoka in the last six months. 3,000m steeplechaser Matt Hughes and aspiring marathoner Rory Linkletter both left the brand in 2021. 

Levins was selected to represent Canada in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics after running 2:10:14 in the final few days of Olympic qualifying. He had a rough day at the office in Tokyo, finishing 72nd in humid conditions.

Before Levins joined Hoka in 2018, he was a part of Alberto Salazar’s Nike Oregon Project alongside Mo Farah and Galen Rupp. Levins currently lives and trains in Portland, Ore., and is coached remotely by Victoria, B.C. runner Jim Finlayson.

Brett Larner of the Japan Running News website released his documentary on the iconic Fukuoka International Marathon, which saw its final running (open to locals only) on Dec. 6. Inside the Outside: When the World Came to Fukuoka tells the story of the non-Japanese runners, who, over the race’s long history, turned it into the unofficial world men’s marathon championship.

The film, which is introduced by Larner (and which he produced), does not focus on the 24 Japanese athletes who pushed each other to victory at Fukuoka over the race’s 75-year history, but on the foreigners who came to race there, giving the race an international profile and contributing significantly to its mystique. (Larner himself ran it in 2007 – the year that Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya, who would go on to win Olympic gold the following year, set a course record in his marathon debut.)

The first outsider to be interviewed is Pavel Kantorek of the former Czechoslovakia, who won Fukuoka in 1961. He raced there six times in all and never performed worse than fifth; he also ran in the Olympic marathon in 1956, 1960 and 1964. Kantorek, who was married at the time, comments that he kept getting invited to return because of his exemplary behaviour, unlike some of the runners, who were “more interested in the Japanese geisha than in racing.”

Other notable athletes interviewed include Amby Burfoot, who won the Boston Marathon in 1968 and was fifth at Fukuoka the same year, finishing just shy of the American record; double Olympic medallist Frank Shorter, who won Fukuoka every year from 1971 to 1974, who says “Fukuoka is where I was born as a marathon runner”; and Canada’s own Jerome Drayton, a two-time Olympian who won the Boston Marathon in 1977 and the Fukuoka Marathon in 1969, 1975 and 1976 (and his 1975 winning time, 2:10:09, was the Canadian marathon record for 43 years). Four-time Boston Marathon and NYC Marathon champion Bill Rodgers, who ran in the 1976 Olympics, won Fukuoka in 1977 and was third in 1975. 

For many of the early Fukuoka runners, it was the first time they’d been invited to compete at an international marathon, and it became very prestigious on that basis. The meaning the race holds for them is obvious in their words, many of which were delivered via iPhone, thanks to the constraints of pandemic-style filmmaking. Fans of the marathon’s history will find a great deal of value in the film.

Three very familiar faces will be among the outstanding Canadian entries for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon October 20th, all lured by the Athletics Canada National Championship which runs concurrently in this IAAF Gold Label race.

Moreover, this year’s event also serves as Canada’s Olympic trials with the ‘first past the post' earning an automatic spot on the team bound for Tokyo provided he or she has achieved the Olympic standard (2:11:30/2:29:30).

Two-time Olympian Reid Coolsaet will seek a third berth, Dylan Wykes a second and Rob Watson, a three-time World Championships performer, relishes the challenge of earning another podium finish. The ‘three amigos’ between them have won twenty-one national titles.

Coolsaet turned 40 on July 29th and acknowledges his best days are behind him - he is Canada’s third fastest marathoner of all time with a 2:10:28 personal record - but believes he has the experience to make the team for Tokyo. "Yeah, it is my goal, I am totally focused on making the Olympics," said Coolsaet, who has run under 2:11:30 six times in his career. "It’s definitely my main motivation for training as hard as I do in the marathon.

"If it wasn’t for the 2020 Olympics, knowing I am not really looking for a PB anymore, I think I would have moved to the trails last year. I am happy to train this hard knowing the reward would mean a lot to me."

With Cam Levins (2:09:25) also returning to the site of his dramatic Canadian record-breaking performance, Coolsaet realises that something would have to go seriously wrong for Levins to miss the automatic place. Still, he remains optimistic he has a chance.

"I know what it takes to run the level I need to run to potentially qualify for the Olympics," Coolsaet says believing a 2:12:30 might be good enough to earn a place through the IAAF ranking system.

"Although I don’t want to get hurt, I don’t want to sell myself short and think ‘what if?’ I am going to be smart about my training and listen to my body. "I am not going to run quite as much mileage as in the past. But I know I can’t let being 40 be an excuse to back off my training because I can't handle it or something like that. Although there will be some slight changes, they are going to be very slight."

Wykes who was Canada’s top finisher in the 2012 Olympic marathon (20th in 2:15:26) has a personal best of 2:10:47 making him the fourth fastest Canadian of all time. Many were surprised by his return. After failing to make the Rio Olympic team he effectively retired to focus on his family - he and his wife Francine have two young children - and his coaching business ‘Mile2Marathon’.

Coach Richard Lee had once declared that he doubted Wykes would ever want to put himself through the disruption which ultimately led to his place on the 2012 London Olympic team. He made three attempts to achieve the standard sacrificing much in the process. His 2:10:47 came at the 2016 Rotterdam Marathon. Reminded of this the now 36-year old laughs.

"It’s certainly taken a few years to wrap my head around things and realize I am probably not going to do it again if it’s like the buildup was to London," he admits. "I would be lying if I said Tokyo wasn’t in the back of my mind. But I think I am trying to see things less ‘big picture’ and trying to focus on staying healthy and getting to the finish line in Toronto.

"If Cam Levins is on his game he’s in a different stratosphere. But I guess guys like Tristan Woodfine, Reid, Trevor Hofbauer, these kind of guys, if I am going well, I will mix it up with them.That is kind of what I am most excited about."

Following the 2012 Olympics, Wykes’ motivation was at a peak. The London experience had left him excited with endless possibilities to set about achieving. But there were obstacles that cropped up along the way. "I was as focused or more focused after London as any time in my career and the years between London and Rio were going to be my best," he reveals. "But a lot of that was injuries and kind of biting off more than I could chew.

"Some of that had to with the buildup to London and having to run so many marathons. And I made the silly mistake of trying to chase down (Jerome Drayton’s Canadian record). After London that became my focus. And, when I didn’t make Rio, I was kind of done."

A year ago Wykes and his family moved east from Vancouver after Francine received a post-doctoral position at Carleton University. Together with Rob Watson he coaches runners of all abilities through their company ‘Mile2Marathon’. With over 200 clients and ten coaches it is a thriving business. Somewhere along the way he rediscovered his own love for disciplined training. At his peak Watson achieved a personal best of 2:13:29 at the 2013 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.

On Sunday, October 21, 2018, Levins broke a record that had stood for many more years than he’d been alive. Levins crossed the line in his marathon debut in 2:09:25, 44 seconds ahead of the record set 43 years ago by Jerome Drayton.

Levins had hoped to take another stab at the marathon in London this year, but was sidelined due to injury. Since withdrawing from the London Marathon, Levins has gotten healthy and announced his fall marathon will take place in Toronto.

Levins told journalist Paul Gains, “I was thrilled with how I performed, and I will probably remember crossing the finish line there for the rest of my life. It’s exciting to go back to a race where I now know the entire course.

I also feel like I know what to expect. I may not feel the same as I did last year, but if I can go and have a similar experience, I will be happy.”

As an added bonus, the 2019 STWM is also the Canadian Marathon Championships, and therefore, an Olympic qualifier. The first Canadian male and female finishers will receive automatic pre-selection for the Tokyo Olympic marathon next August, provided they achieve the 2:11:30 (male) and 2:29:30 (female) standards.

If they do not go under those standards on October 20th, a place will still be held open for them until May 31, 2020 to allow them to attain the standard. Anyone else hoping to represent Canada in the marathon in Tokyo will have to wait until June 1, 2020 before selections are announced, so the Toronto Championship race offers a huge incentive.

Cam Levins had the marathon debut of his life Sunday (Oct 21) at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, crossing the finish line in 2:09:22 and breaking Jerome Drayton’s Canadian national record of 2:10:09 in the process. That record comes with a $43,000 (CAD) payday–$1,000 for every year the record has stood. Levins finished fourth . Kenya’s Benson Kipruto, 27, was the overall winner clocking 2:07:21, with Mimi Belete of Bahrain winning the women’s marathon and breaking the course record of 2:22:43.  Cam was certain a record was within his grasp at the 40K mark. The final two kilometers went by so fast for him that it seemed like a sprint. “It was pretty much a blur, especially the last half-kilometre,” Levins said. “Everything was flying by at that point."  The 29-year-old from Black Creek, B.C., did his best to focus on the finish line where his wife, Elizabeth, mother, Barb, and father, Gus, were waiting.  He eclipsed a national record by former long-distance champion Jerome Drayton – and by a substantial 44 seconds.   “It is such an old record, it is nice to be the one to take it down,” Mr. Levins said. “It’s a good one to check off the list."

 Jerome Drayton's mark of 2:10:28 from the 1975 Fukuoka Marathon is the current national Canadian record. Drayton, who lives in Toronto, is 73 years-old now. "Two-ten is obviously a good time," remarked two-time Canadian Olympic marathoner Reid Coolsaet, who came close to Drayton's record at the 2015 BMW Berlin Marathon where he ran 2:10:28. Speaking at a press conference here this morning in advance of Sunday's Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon he added, "[But], especially after Eliud Kipchoge's record (2:01:39) we need a faster national record. With guys like Cam stepping up to the marathon, it's just a matter of time before it goes." "Cam," of course, is Cameron Levins, the 29 year-old Canadian Olympian who holds the national record of 27:07.51 for 10,000m. A former Nike Oregon Project athlete who now represents Hoka One One, Levins will be making his long-awaited marathon debut here this Sunday. He'll be running primarily for the Athletics Canada national title, but with a CAD 43,000 bonus (USD 32,800) on the line for taking down Drayton's mark, the record is definitely on Levins's mind. His 10,000m best is equivalent to a 2:06:38 marathon by using one popular conversion formula. "I'm in great shape," Levins told the media here today, looking relaxed in a hooded sweatshirt, his hands folded in his lap. "I'm ready to attack the Canadian record." Levins, who was notorious for running exceptionally high mileage during his NCAA career at Southern Utah University, stuck with a high-mileage diet for this race, too. He estimated that he averaged 168 miles (270 kilometers) per week, splitting his time between his sea level home in Portland, Ore., and the high altitude of Cedar City, Utah, where he lived and trained in college. He said he adapted well to marathon training after an uncertain start. "I was a little nervous about getting into the new kind of training," Levins told Race Results Weekly. "I mean, I'm into it now. I know I'm going to do more beyond this. I can see it becoming, just, what I do." But first, he had to get through Sunday's race. Long-time race director Alan Brookes has assembled one of his best elite fields led by two-time race winner Philemon Rono of Kenya (2:06:52 PB), 2012 Olympic Marathon champion Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda (2:06:33), 2017 Seoul Marathon runner-up Felix Kandie of Kenya (2:06:03), and New Zealand record holder Jake Robertson (2:08:26). Levins, who said he will run with the second group, made sure he put enough long runs which included very specific goals. As a track runner, his long runs were mostly just for adding miles, he said, at an easy pace.

Reid Coolsaet is the fastest Canadian in the field at this year’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. It’s a race Reid knows well having run it several times before. In 2011 he qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics by running 2:10:55. He has since lowered his PB to 2:10:26 making him Canada’s second fastest ever marathoner. The two-time Olympian, Coolsaet has had his eye on Jerome Drayton’s 2:10:09 Canadian record for some time. And no Canadian has run Scotiabank–or any other marathon on Canadian soil–faster. Coolsaet set that record (2:10:55) here in 2011. An interesting coincidence: Drayton’s record was set in 1975 at Fukuoka, Japan, a race Coolsaet has run twice, achieving an excellent time here in 2016 (2:10:55–the same time he ran at Scotia in 2011). With a PB of 2:10:28, set at the Berlin Marathon in 2015, Coolsaet has been tantalizingly close to this goal for a while. He’s had to be patient through a series of setbacks, most significantly a painful foot condition in early 2017 that took him out of competition for almost a year. He came back in time for the Canadian National Cross-Country Championships in November, placing ninth.   Jerome Drayton has held the Canadain record since 1969.  Jerome won the Fukuoka Marathon in 1969, 1975, and 1976, as well as the Boston Marathon in 1977. He  has held the Canadian record since 1969, after breaking the then record of 2:18:55 set by Robert Moore a month earlier.

Two time Canadian Olympian Reid Coolsaet wants it known that rumours of his retirement are greatly exaggerated, even as marathon enthusiasts are busy penciling in their choices as to who will be the ‘next generation’ of Canadian marathon runners. As if to underscore his sudden status as ‘not nearly retired but simply maturing’, the 38 year old Hamilton, Ontario resident, and New Balance sponsored athlete, has confirmed he will race the 2018 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on October 21st.   And in a test of fitness following his surprising 9th place finish in Boston earlier this spring, Coolsaet will also tackle the upcoming Toronto Waterfront 10k on June 16th.   Coolsaet has the closest time to Jerome Drayton’s highly coveted national marathon record (2:10:09) than any other Canadian, running 2:10:28 at the 2015 Berlin marathon, and he appears eager to finally achieve this goal. With the Scotiabank prize for beating the record in Toronto now at $43,000 – a thousand dollars for each year the record has stood - Coolsaet would easily find use for such a princely sum. He and his wife, Marie, recently welcomed their second child, Elodie Virginia, into the world and renovations to their Hamilton home lie ahead.   "Of course the record is a big deal," Coolsaet declares. "My goal has always been to break 2:10 so whether or not another Canadian runs 2:07 or 2:08 I would still want to break 2:10.   "It has been a while, about a year and half, since I ran 2:10:55 (2016 Fukuoka). Even if it’s not possible I still think of (sub 2:10) when I am training and I use it to push me along and keep me motivated. It’s something that has been motivating me for about eight years now."   Injuries tend to take longer to heal as one matures and Coolsaet has been through some debilitating ones. Most recently and most seriously was the bout of osteonecrosis in his metatarsals that restricted his training and threatened to completely derail him. But Boston was a significant response, as he bravely trudged home through the cold rain and windy conditions to snatch 9th place.   "I was hoping to get a good feel for my marathon fitness in Boston but because of the conditions I wasn’t able to do that," he reflects. "The last 12k I wasn’t trying to maximize the training I had put in; I was just trying to keep the cold away and just move my stiff legs. I am happy with toughing it out there and happy I kept pushing and got 9th. But, I really don’t know what I could have done in nice conditions on a normal course."

The two-time Olympian and second-fastest marathoner in Canadian history was forced to cut his yearly training regime to half of its regular volume, as he dealt with a peculiar ailment. A Hamilton resident and New Balance athlete, he had been chasing Jerome Drayton’s elusive Canadian marathon record of 2:10:09 for quite some time and, with a personal best of 2:10:28, a record-breaking attempt in 2017 was in no way far-fetched. But, not even the elite are impervious to injury.