Cam Levins of Black Creek will put one foot in front of the other Sunday in The Marathon Project race on the Gila River Reservation in Chandler, Arizona, and hope it carries him across the Pacific to Tokyo.
The Islander, the Canadian record holder in the marathon, will attempt to qualify for summer’s 2020 Olympics Plus One through the elites-only race that is built purely for speed, over a pan-flat 7K loop course. No fans are allowed. The invitation-only field will feature 53 men, including Levins, and 43 women, including Prairie Inn Harriers runner Natasha Wodak.
It follows a failed attempt to qualify for Tokyo through the London Marathon in October after Levins’ muscles tightened in the cold conditions. He ended up walking before not finishing.
“This will be a tough one Sunday in Arizona,” said Levins’ coach Jim Finlayson of Victoria. “We have been doing recovery since London. But Cam is such a talented athlete and I’ve seen him do a lot off a little.
“We have had some good sessions and have put in the work and have put in the miles. Cam is healthy and feels good. Those are important things. I believe he will be in the lead group and build from there. The most important thing is to secure the Olympic standard [2:11:30].”
It is not desperation time, but there is a growing urgency for 31-year-old Levins. Only one spot of Canada’s three at the Tokyo Olympics remains available.
Tristan Woodfine of Cobden, Ont., took a remarkable two minutes and 25 seconds off his personal best to record two hours, 10 minutes and 15 seconds in London to beat the Olympic qualifying standard and capture the second of three provisional Canadian berths into the Tokyo Games. Trevor Hofbauer of Calgary met the qualifying standard last year.
Levins and others have until the June 3 qualifying cut-off to nab the third and final Canadian berth. But marathons are hard to find with so many cancelled amid the pandemic, so that makes Sunday’s opportunity all the more precious.
Levins began running in Grade 7 with the Comox Valley Cougars Track Club, rising to Island and B.C. high school cross-country championships with the G.P. Vanier Secondary Towhees of Courtenay, before becoming 2012 NCAA champion in both the 5,000 and 10,000 metres with the University of Southern Utah.
He qualified for the finals of both the 5,000 and 10,000 metres at the 2012 London Olympics, and won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games before fading in the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games.
A torn tendon in the left foot and surgery kept Levins out of the 2016 Rio Olympics. But he returned spectacularly in 2018 when he moved onto the road and ran 2:09:25 to eclipse, by 44 seconds in his debut marathon, Jerome Drayton’s hallowed 43-year-old Canadian record of 2:10:09 set in 1975 in Fukuoka, Japan.
“I won’t let this fitness go to waste. I’ll be back out there soon,” Levins said after the London Marathon.
He gets that opportunity on Sunday. Levins, who married his wife, Elizabeth, on the grounds of St. Ann’s Academy in Victoria on Canada Day in 2013, trains in Portland, Oregon.
Finlayson is based on the Island and has been training and coaching Levins online during the pandemic. Under Finlayson’s remote guidance, training has been apace in Arizona the past few weeks.
“I’ve been hitting lots of workouts at [Canadian-record] pace or faster,” Levins told Lori Ewing of Canadian Press.
A promising sign is that Levins was on a sub-2:10:00 pace at the halfway point of the London Marathon before fading due to the cold. The weather, projected at 21 C and sunny, will not be an issue in Chandler on Sunday.
The Arizona race is following state health authority and IAAF safety guidelines, which include two negative tests for COVID‑19, recorded 24 hours apart, since Sunday.
Levins is attempting to join about 75 Island or Island-based athletes expected to compete in the delayed Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in the summer.
— With a file from The Canadian Press
