An inspiring record

On Toronto’s streets this past weekend, Cam Levins shattered a Canadian record that had stubbornly stood for 43 years.

And since it was his first ever race at the marathon distance it would be easy to assume the 29-year-old from British Columbia is one of those rare athletes for whom things come easily. The reality, though, makes his record-breaking run of two hours, nine minutes and 25 seconds all the more inspiring.

Levins was a standout distance runner in university and in 2012 became the first Canadian to win the Bowerman Award as the top male track and field athlete in the elite American NCAA system. The international results and Canadian records that followed suggested even bigger things were just around the corner.

But that great trajectory came to a crashing halt in 2015 with a fluke foot injury. And the last three years have been so difficult that track observers waited for a retirement announcement, and Levins himself said he often considered quitting. But he didn’t. He fought back the doubts and eventually recovered to put in the daunting training mileage needed to get back in the game.

And in the crucial final kilometres of his 42.2 km effort he told himself he’d come too far to do anything but keep going — and with speed. “I’m going to take back my career and be back to the athlete I know I can be,” Levins said later.

His result rewrites Canada’s men’s marathon record book, which hasn’t been updated since 1975 when Jerome Drayton ran a marathon in two hours, 10 minutes and nine seconds.

Knowing how easy it would have been for Levins to have given up during his years of struggle — but that he didn’t — is as inspiring as the record-breaking run itself.

Levins himself said he often considered quitting. But he didn’t