Canada's Levins set for deceptively hilly NYC Marathon ahead of challenging Paris Olympic course

The timing couldn't have been better for Cam Levins to run the Royal Victoria Half Marathon.

Last month, the 34-year-old visited family and friends on Thanksgiving weekend and raced near his hometown of Black Creek, B.C. The 21.1-kilometre course of mostly rolling hills proved to be the ideal training ground for his next marathon.

On Sunday morning, Levins will tackle hill running on a different level in his first New York City Marathon, which twists and turns through the city's five boroughs before ending with a tough, rolling finish through Central Park.

"After finishing [Victoria], I was like, 'Man, I'm so glad I took that on before New York.' Getting into that effort range for that long, learning how to gauge yourself going up and down hills and manage that effort, is definitely a learning experience," Levins said this week from his home in Portland, Ore.

Despite not knowing the course, Levins won in one hour one minute 18 seconds, breaking the 21-year-old record by more than a minute.

Levins, the only elite Canadian runner competing in New York, has some experience racing a portion of the marathon course, having competed in the 5th Avenue Mile in 2012 and the 2019 NYC Half Marathon.

He said the wind, which can be challenging on the winding course, could be important when deciding to make a move on the competition.

"For me, it's mostly about knowing where the hilliest sections are, especially over the last 12 kilometres," he said. "That's when important moves [by the top athletes] are going to be made. Knowing when [to make them] and what's ahead of me is what I want out of my research."

Levins admitted it was a "difficult adjustment" adding hill training to his ninth marathon build. Initially, he and coach Jim Finlayson needed to make sure Levins had recovered sufficiently entering daily workouts.

"[I struck] a good balance as I got further into the build," said Levins, who ran 2:05:36 on March 5 in the Tokyo Marathon to set a North American record and lower his Canadian mark.

"I feel good right now. I think part of that is I run so much mileage [about 170 per week]. Even turning half of it into hilly [miles] is significant extra strain. It was tough but I'm glad I had half the year to adjust and figure it out."

Running New York is all about Levins's preparation for a third Olympics next summer in Paris, where the near-loop course will vary in elevation from a low point of 27 metres and high point of 183, gaining 438m in elevation and descending 436m to the finish.

Olympic race plan altered

In the spring, the former track star changed his race plan for Paris, withdrawing from the World Athletics Championships marathon in August after watching world-record holder Eliud Kipchoge struggle on the hills of his Boston Marathon debut.

"That was a major factor. I thought, 'That could be me' [in Paris],'" Levins said. "Obviously, I don't want to struggle in New York, but no matter what, getting the experience on that course is going to be important."

Levins noted he's at least in similar shape to his record-setting performance in Tokyo while some workouts indicated he's in better fitness.

But without pacers in New York, improving his North American record is not a priority.

"Ideally, I'm looking at a podium spot, if not the win," said Levins, who was fourth at worlds in 2022 and fifth in Tokyo this year. No Canadian has ever won the previous 51 New York City Marathons.

His chances of a top-three finish have probably improved with the recent withdrawals of defending champion Evans Chebet and fellow Ethiopian Geoffrey Kamworor, who won New York in 2017 and 2019.

"I'm prepared to run as fast as I did in Tokyo if I need to," he said. "I'm thinking of [Sunday's] race more like I would with world championships last year in Eugene [Ore.] where it's feeling out the race and being prepared to move hard when a big move [by my competitors] is made."