Marathoner Cameron Levins’ career is a lesson in perseverance

If you take a look at the Canadian record books in men’s distance running, you’re likely to spot Cameron Levins’ name just a few times. And by just a few, we mean a lot. He currently owns the Canadian record for the 15km, 20km, half marathon, and marathon distances and has, at various points in his career, also held the 10km, indoor 5000m, and outdoor 10,000m records.

Paris 2024 will mark Levins’ third Olympic Games, albeit his second as a marathoner. He competed on the track in the 5000m and 10,000m at London 2012. After a difficult ankle injury ruled out Rio 2016, Levins set his sights on the longest of Olympic running races–and Canadian marathoning has never been the same since. 

In his very first marathon in October 2018, Levins took down Jerome Drayton’s Canadian record of 2:10:09, which had stood for 43 years, when he completed the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in2:09:25. Since then Levins has lowered his own record twice more, once at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, running 2:07:09 to finish fourth, and then again at the Tokyo Marathon in March 2023, where he ran 2:05:36.

Heading into Paris 2024, Olympic.ca chatted with Levins about the mental and physical battle that is the marathon, and his legacy in Canadian distance running.

This interview conducted in December 2023 has been edited for length and clarity. 

O.ca What would you say is the best thing about the marathon and what’s the hardest thing about the marathon? 

CL: The best thing is just how rewarding it is of the work you put in. I think it really gives you a lot of opportunity to improve just based on the amount of effort you’re willing to put in. That’s not to say that I’m not a talented athlete, but I think there’s a lot of gains you can make just from hard work alongside that. I’ve basically improved four minutes almost exclusively off that from my 2:09:25 to where I am now.

The hardest thing is when the race goes badly and it’s a long time to struggle to finish the race, if you are deciding to do that. In track races, if something goes bad or you have a tough race, you know, often it’s just a couple of laps or even if it’s a 10km, 12 laps is a long time, but it’s still nothing compared to another hour, hour and a half that can happen with the marathon and the last 10-12 kms are tough no matter what. 

But there’s definitely a difference between feeling tired like that and just continuing to move as you’ve trained your body to do so many times beforehand.

O.ca: How do you mentally prepare for that?

CL: Well, I would say the main thing is, for one, understanding that those sorts of days are going to happen no matter what you do. It’s a matter of acceptance–no matter how much you don’t want it to happen, it still happens. I certainly feel that way about my build to the New York Marathon [in November 2023]. It felt like everything was going right, but I still suddenly felt crummy the day before and bad on the day of the race. No matter how much I wanted it and how much work I put in and seemingly did all the same things that I had previously, it still went badly. And so accepting that, moving on, recognizing it’s not always going to be like that and there’s not always answers one way or the other, I think is definitely important.

I work with a sports psychologist to make sure I’m going into races with the right frame of mind. One of those things is a lot of positive self-talk. And I say quite a bit, being your own biggest cheerleader when you’re out there racing and just training all the way up to it, really working on that component of it all the time, is so important. Because no matter what, it’s not going to feel good for a large portion of the race. And so, fighting that battle and continuing to be positive when things are tough is really important.

O.ca: Do you have any advice for someone watching the marathon for the first time? What do they need to pay attention to? 

CL: There’s a lot going on even when you think there’s not a lot going on early in these races. Even if you think, ‘I cannot even see this athlete!’ that’s often because it’s a purposeful play to not be in view of what’s going on.

So I would say if you’re watching for the first time, something that can be really helpful is also like either downloading an app or getting live splits along the way, so you can track different athletes besides what you’re just watching on screen.

No matter what, the last half or last 10km of the marathon is generally pretty exciting. 

O.ca: You’re really leading the charge of men’s marathoning in Canada. How do you want to carry yourself as a role model for the next generation of distance athletes in Canada?

CL: I hope I can just be a good example of perseverance within the sport. I have had many other times in my career where I’ve been good but not always necessarily consistently good or good at the right times. But, I’ve shown the talent to be a good athlete. And I think as long as you have the talent and you have the will and dedication to stay within the sport and continue to pursue the dreams that are important to you, I think you can ultimately get what you need out of the sport yourself.

And that doesn’t always look the same for everyone. I mean, even for me, I don’t know if I’m necessarily going to end up with the things that I want, but I am happy with the effort I’ve put into this. And, think that’s something that I can ultimately leave the sport and be happy with what I’ve done.

I think that’s hopefully something others can take as well, that success doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing for everybody. But, if you stay within the sport and keep working at it, I think ultimately you get yourself what you want out of it.

O.ca: Do you have a particular workout that makes you feel ready to race?

CL: One that I really like is 3 x 5km at half marathon effort because for me, just being able to hold half marathon pace stuff or at least the sort of range that I’m looking at for that sort of distance, I think really shows fitness. 

For me, I’m looking at 14-minute 5kms or faster. At least where I’m trying to train. Nailing 5kms that fast repeatedly after just a few minutes rest in between is a big one for me and just gives me a lot of confidence when it goes well. And it’s just kind of fun to do that and be like, ‘wow, I can’t believe I did something like that.’ Or at least I certainly felt that way the first time. 

[Editor’s Note: Team Canada steeplechase athlete, Jean-Simon Desgagnés recalled seeing this in his own interview with Olympic.ca: “I remember Cam doing that! We were in Flagstaff and he did that at like 2300 meters altitude. I was like: Oh my God, how can he do that? I mean, it was crazy.”]

O.ca: If you could be an Olympian in a sport other than you own, what would you pick?

CL: Something that I really enjoyed watching, I think would be really thrilling if I was actually able to do it, are the downhill skiing events. They’re just super intense. It’s really crazy watching it. I’d love to be good at it.

O.ca: Do you have a favourite moment as a Team Canada fan?

I think the big one in 2023 was watching Marco [Arop] win gold in that 800 [at the World Athletics Championships] and just running it so expertly.

It’s just super cool to watch and be like: What is he doing? And, you know, the last half the race, you’re like: He knows exactly what he’s doing. I would say that’s one that highlights my career being able to see a Canadian do something like that.

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The Paris 2024 men’s marathon will take place on Saturday, August 10.