Krista DuChene
2018 Boston Marathon
Both Marchant and DuChene went on to represent Canada at the 2016 Rio Olympics. But while Marchant has since endured three surgeries, another noteworthy performance awaited DuChene at the 2018 Boston Marathon. On a foul, wintry day, the 41-year-old persevered to finish an incredible third. “I was sure I must have finished in the top 10, because I passed [Americans] Shalane Flanagan and Molly Huddle and Edna Kiplagat [the two-time world champion from Kenya], and many had dropped out,” she remembers.
“It was so chaotic at the end,” DuChene says, adding that she didn’t initially believe the outcome. “When I asked a volunteer at the finish what place I got, he said, ‘ Third, I think.’ I said ‘No, not masters, do you know what I was overall?’ He said, ‘you were third overall.’” out due to the stif ling heat. Marchant insisted on finishing what became a three-hour ordeal. Nevertheless, she thought she would give Toronto a try.
“I remember when I decided to do the Toronto race – it was on a whim,” Marchant recalls. “Worlds had gone poorly, but I knew I was fit. I think it was about two weeks before [the race] when I emailed [race director] Alan Brookes and asked if he would give me a bib number.”
Despite having stomach issues and muscle cramps, Marchant pulled away over the final five kilometres to claim the 28-year-old record and the accompanying $28,000 bonus from Scotiabank ($1,000 for each year the record had stood). She used the money to pay off her law school student loans. “The next morning I was all over the press,” she says, laughing. “I was at Toronto airport [f lying home to Tennessee] and my face was on the cover of newspapers everywhere. Then I had to lay over in Newark. There, I was just some weird girl hobbling around, sore from the marathon. I got to be me. I went to work the next day.”
Despite stomach issues and leg cramps, Marchant pulled away over the final five kilometres to claim the 28- -year-old record and the accompanying $28,000 bonus from Scotiabank
Canadian women have earned attention for record-breaking performances, but the men have not been idle. Jerome Drayton’s 43-year-old Canadian record (2:10:09) was finally beaten at the 2018 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon by a man making his debut at the distance: Cam Levins of Black Creek, B.C. The former national 10,000m record holder (27:07.51) had been beset by injury, leading to a change in coaches and sponsors, and had largely been written off by those close to the sport. Toronto was a chance for redemption. “I knew things had gone well with my preparation,” Levins declares. “So, I was like, ‘Well, if I go and race and things don’t go well, it’s kind of on me.’”
With specially assigned pacemakers, he knocked off five-kilometre increments like clockwork, finishing in 2:09:25. It wasn’t until late in the race that Levins felt the record was his – “probably the last two or three kilometres, honestly,” he claims. “I didn’t track my watch too closely, I mainly relied on my pacers. Once I got to about three kilometres left, I thought, ‘I should be able to do this.’
“I felt a mixture of relief and excitement, knowing I was almost finished and things had gone well. And, having such great crowd support was great. It’s definitely nice coming back into a crowded area.” Levins earned $43,000 for beating the record in Toronto, and since he was fourth overall, $6,000 in prize money – all told, a memorable day.