Cam Levins crushes Canadian half marathon record in 1:00:18 at Vancouver First Half

It's a good bet Japanese running fans will see a different Cam Levins in three weeks.

The Canadian marathon record-holder won the First Half men's half marathon title in Vancouver on Sunday, breaking the 61-minute barrier in a men's national mark of 1:00:18, less than three months after Ben Flanagan set the record by edging Levins at the finish line in Spain.

With a light rain falling Sunday, Levins ran much of the 21.1-kilometre route on his own and won by four minutes over Lee Wesselius, Thomas Broatch and 2022 Canadian marathon champion Trevor Hofbauer.

"Main objective was to get in a good effort, and one that can hopefully give [coach Jim Finlayson and I] a solid idea of what pace I can aim for in [the March 5 Tokyo Marathon]," Levins told CBC Sports on Monday. "I've been running really great workouts, but sometimes it's a little difficult to know exactly where it puts me in a race.

"It feels as though I've been constantly training in these sort of [rainy and cool] conditions for the past few months, so I had lots of practice for race day."

"This is a seriously LEGIT record on a course that features hills, open spots to the ocean, and no rabbits [pacesetter] … WOW," Trent Stellingwerff, who coaches Canadian runners Natasha Wodak and Gabriela DeBues-Stafford, posted to his Twitter account after Sunday's race.

On Aug. 8, 2021, the 33-year-old Levins was one of the last finishers in the Olympic marathon in Sapporo, Japan, placing 71st in two hours 28 minutes 43 seconds after hitting the 2:11:30 automatic qualifying standard with a week to spare.

He later told The Canadian Press not eating enough leading up to races was a big part of the problem in not reaching the Olympic standard earlier.

"I really just took a lot away from the last Olympics and realized I need to be better in every way," Levins told reporters last July 17 in Eugene, Ore., where he shattered his own marathon record with a 2:07:09 fourth-place performance at the World Athletics Championships.

"I hope I have a long career still ahead of me, and that was just the tip of the iceberg."

Ran 1:01:04 in Valencia

In his 2018 marathon debut, the Black Creek, B.C., native went 2:09:25 at the Toronto Waterfront event to take down Jerome Drayton's 43-year-old Canadian record by 44 seconds on a brisk October morning.

Levins followed up his run at worlds at the Valencia Half Marathon last Oct. 23, clocking 1:01:04 for the second fastest time in Canadian history.

In Tokyo, he will aim to run lower than the 2:08:10 auto entry standard for the 2024 Olympics in Paris after Levins' time last summer in Eugene secured his spot at worlds this summer in Budapest, Hungary. He was officially named to the Canadian squad on Feb. 7 for the Aug. 19-27 event.

Levins won a bronze medal on the track in the 10,000 metres at the 2014 Commonwealth Games before his career was disrupted the following season at the Canadian track and field championships in Edmonton.

Following a 1,500 heat, someone ran into the back of him, catching Levins' leg and forcing him to the ground. Levins was later diagnosed with a tear of the peroneal tendon in his left foot, stress fractures in his navicular and talus bones, a bone spur and bone chips that doctors had to shave and remove.

After "very serious doubts" about resuming his competitive career, Levins returned in 2016 in 5 km and 10 km races before trying his first-ever half marathon in December 2017, crossing the line in 1:05:07 at the Holiday Half Marathon in Oregon.

Wodak back to full health

Also Sunday, Wodak took the women's title and lowered her event record to 1:10:17 from 1:11:32. It also marked the Vancouver resident's fifth time under 1:11:00 and 38 seconds shy of Andrea Seccafien's 1:09:38 Canadian record from Feb. 2, 2020 in Marugame, Japan.

Last month, the 41-year-old Wodak withdrew from the Houston Half Marathon due to illness, her fourth since contracting COVID-19 last September when she took down Malindi Elmore's Canadian marathon record with a 2:23:12 performance in Berlin.

Wodak won the women's race at the 44th Harriers Pioneer 8K in North Saanich, B.C., for a ninth time in 10 appearances in early January.

The native of Surrey, B.C., broke away from two-time Canadian Olympian Gen Lalonde halfway through the race to win in 26:20, a national record in the Masters (40-and-over) division. Wodak is also the Canadian record holder in the women's 8K (25:28).