Canadian YouTuber Cody Ko to run the New York City Marathon
Ko has been training for next week's New York City Marathon for a few months, and he has some lofty goals
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Vaughn Ridley/Collision via Sportsfile
Canadian YouTube sensation and comedian Cody Kolodziejzyk (Cody Ko) will be one of the many celebrities running in the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon on Nov. 5. The Calgary native shared the news on his Instagram and claims that he’s been training for months, with some fairly high expectations.
In an Instagram video, in which Ko showed off his new high-cushion Brooks Ghost MAX running shoes, he mentioned his aspirations of winning the marathon outright and the men’s 30-34 division. However, he quickly changed his goal to becoming the top Canadian YouTuber when he realized how fast last year’s winner, Evans Chebet, 34, was (2:08:41). While we can’t confirm the level of competition Ko will face in the YouTube division, his fiery training vlogs indicate he’s in good shape.
In his vlogs, Ko expresses his desire to maintain a goal pace for the marathon of around eight minutes per mile (5:00/km), which would result in a projected finishing time of around three hours and 30 minutes.
If you’re over 35, you might not be familiar with the popular social media personality and comedian, who has more than six million subscribers on YouTube and two million followers on Instagram.
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Beyond his comedic talents, Ko has always been quite athletic. He grew up in Calgary and attended Duke University in the NCAA on a swimming and diving scholarship. In 2011, he finished sixth overall at the NCAA Diving Championships in the three-metre springboard event. This year, Ko completed his first full Ironman in Australia, finishing the gruelling race in 13 hours. Although swimming was his strongest discipline among the swim/bike/run, he’s eager to tackle the marathon again.
As he prepared for his first Ironman in April, he launched a YouTube channel about his fitness journey, titled “Cody Trains.” He took his fans along for the ride, showcasing the challenges and triumphs of endurance training. Ko will aim to improve on his five-hour marathon finishing time from Ironman Australia.
Ko won’t be the only celebrity in the 2023 New York Marathon field. He will be joined by former The Bachelor contestant Matt James, Nev Schulman (the host of MTV’s Catfish), and future Hall of Fame NHL defenseman Zdeno Chara.
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