Cam Levins and Élissa Legault win Canadian Half Marathon Championships
Canada's men's 21.1-km record holder defended his title in Winnipeg, finishing with a course record of 61:41
Photo by:
Kevin Morris
On Sunday at the 2023 Canadian Half Marathon Championships in Winnipeg, the Canadian half-marathon record holder, Cam Levins of Black Creek, B.C., won his second-consecutive Canadian half-marathon title, topping the podium in 61:41.
Breaking the 63:23 course record he set at last year’s championships, Levins seized control early in the race, hitting the 5-km mark in 14:07—more than a minute ahead of the rest of the field. The 34-year-old didn’t relent, posting 29:13 at 10 km and 43:31 at 15 km and finishing the race more than five minutes ahead of Phil Parrot-Migas, of London, Ont., who placed second in 66:42. Justin Kent of Burnaby, B.C., ran 66:57 to finish third.
Congratulations to all the athletes that laced up for the Canadian Half Marathon Championships this weekend!
Your BC Team had an incredible showing
– Cam Levins 1st
– Justin Kent 3rd
– Samantha Jory 3rd
– Dayna Pidhoresky 5thGreat work team! pic.twitter.com/GXUn0ActYl
— BC Athletics (@BC_Athletics) June 19, 2023
Levins, who holds the Canadian records for both the marathon and half-marathon, adds another strong performance to what has already been a stellar year for the athlete. In February he ran a half-marathon personal best in Vancouver (60:18), breaking Ben Flanagan’s Canadian record, and the following month ran 2:05:36 at the Tokyo Marathon to secure the North American record.
Montreal’s Élissa Legault topped the women’s podium Sunday in 72:18, putting more than a minute between herself and second-place Kinsey Middleton of Boise, Idaho (73:38), who was followed by Vancouver’s Samantha Jory in third (75:03).
VICTOIRE DE ÉLISSA LEGAULT 🇨🇦🏆! C’est bien une Québécoise qui est montée sur la première marche du podium aux Championnats canadiens du demi-marathon à Winnipeg (Manitoba) – 1:12:18 ⭐️!
Crédits photo 📸 : Murielle Aglot pic.twitter.com/swffxPt8EH
— Fédération québécoise d’athlétisme (FQA) (@Athl_FQA) June 19, 2023
In the men’s marathon, Roger Hopper of Chesapeake, Va., finished first in 2:23:45, followed by Steffan Reimer (2:32:26) of Blumenort, Man., and Paul Carr of Winnipeg (2:44:54). Three Winnipeg women topped the marathon podium: Dawn Neal (2:57:57), Jessica Wylychenko (3:06:53) and Caroline Fisher (3:15:07).
The weather Sunday was a welcome change from the severe conditions last year that forced the cancellation of the Manitoba Marathon halfway into the event. The 2022 marathon was cancelled about 75 minutes into the race after the temperature climbed to 37 C. Runners took to social media following the race, some expressing appreciation to the race directors for keeping athletes safe, with others noting their confusion at the way the race ended.
In response, Manitoba Marathon organizers introduced a new communications strategy ahead of this year’s race to better prepare for situations such as extreme weather. The new measaures included sending race participants more frequent updates on weather and course conditions in the week leading up to the event and making improvements to volunteer training.
Race organizers say close to 8,000 runners took part in this year’s event.
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