Road running is its own kind of thing. Road runners often have very different training and competition rituals than their track and field contemporaries.

One thing that translates across every athletics discipline is recognizing excellence.

Over the 13 events that made up Athletics Canada’s Road Race Label this year, there were plenty of excellent performances to recognize.

Levins Tops Men’s Standings

Cameron Levins is no stranger to leading the pack over long distances on the roads of Canada. He earned his first place finish in Vancouver at the ‘First Half’ Half Marathon with a Canadian record time of 1:00:18 to bank the highest World Athletics ranking score of the Road Race Label season – 1174 points.

That time also happens to be one of four Canadian records he owns, or co-owns. He’s Canada’s fastest marathon runner ever, setting the benchmark at 2:05:36 in Tokyo this past February. His 30 km time of 1:31:10 stands atop the Canadian leaderboard. He also has a 20 km time of 57:54 that is pending ratification that would tie him with Ben Flanagan as a Canadian record.

Between his ‘First Half’ record-breaker, his blazing time at the Canadian Half Marathon Championships (Manitoba Half Marathon) in June (1:01:41) and his speedy second-place finish in the Canadian 10 km Championships (Ottawa 10k) in May (28:40), Levins scored three of the four highest World Athletics ranking scores on the Road Race Label in 2023.

But Levins wasn’t the only Canadian man burning up the roads of the Road Race Label this year.

Mohammed Ahmed earned his first career Canadian road title this year, edging Levins out in a time of 28:21 and 1119 World Athletics ranking points – good for the gold medal and second overall in the men’s Road Race Label standing.

The race to join these two Canadian distance running heavyweights on the proverbial podium went down to the very last race of the season. Thomas Broatch claimed the Toronto Waterfront Marathon title – earning his first Canadian Championship in his very first marathon, as well as 1056 World Athletics ranking points to finish 3^rd in the men’s Road Race Label standings.

Elmore Reigns Over Women’s Standings

Standing out in the women’s road race division is difficult. The depth of outstanding performances by Canadian women on the road this season was incredible, with 21 results scoring over 1000 World Athletics ranking points in 2023.

Malindi Elmore’s performance at the Ottawa International Marathon in May showed her toughness and speed, as she laid down a time of 2:27:44 to finish 2^nd in the women’s race – the first Canadian to cross the finish line – and bank an exceptional World Athletics ranking score of 1155.

The two-time Olympian didn’t quite achieve her goal of hitting the Olympic standard – that mission was accomplished at the 2023 Berlin Marathon where she flew to a 2:23:30 clocking, a new personal best and the 2^nd fastest time in Canadian history. She appears well poised to repeat or surpass her 9^th place finish in Tokyo at the 2024 Olympics Games in Paris

Her Tokyo teammate Natasha Wodak had been sitting atop the rankings since her smoking time of 1:10:17 at the ‘First Half’ Half Marathon earned her the race win and 1124 World Athletics ranking points.

That was just part of Wodak’s exceptional season on the roads, as her time of 32:52 was good for her third Canadian 10 km championship in a row, just a day before Elmore’s chart toping run in the marathon, and the fourth-highest World Athletics ranking score for Canadian women on the Road Race Label this year (1094 points).

Leslie Sexton was part of that fast ‘First Half’ Half Marathon on the west coast, too. She finished 2^nd to Wodak in the race at 1:11:40 to bank 1096 points to finish 3^rd in the women’s Road Race Label standings.

She didn’t rest on her laurels, either. Like Wodak, she took another crack at the top of the table in the Canadian 10 km Championships in Ottawa in May, finishing 2^nd with a time of 33:13, which was good for 1076 points.

It all came down to the final race of the series, where Olympian Lucia Stafford took to the roads at the Hamilton Marathon Road2Hope 5km stopping the clock at an impressive 15:38, just 3 seconds shy of what was needed to get herself into the top 3 for the series.

Cassidy Continues Marathon Success

Josh Cassidy was the lone wheelchair racer in the 2023 Athletics Canada Road Race Label.

The three-time Paralympian competed at the Canadian Marathon Championships, part of the Toronto Waterfront Marathon and clocked in with a course record time of 1:37:36.

Cassidy topped American Krige Schabort, who came in with a time of 2:06:09.

The Athletics Canada Road Race Label Series Returns for 2024

Ten events comprised of 13 race distances from Vancouver to Montreal have been announced as part of the 2024 Athletics Canada Road Race Label Program.

This year's slate of races, which will run from February to November 2024 across four provinces, are a mixture of long-standing national favourites, such as The Vancouver Sun Run who is in its 40th year! and newer, up-and-coming events. With the Olympic and Paralympic Games on the 2024 calendar, we no doubt will be treated to another year of outstanding performances as our athletes vie for their spot on the team headed to Paris. 

2023 Road Race Label Standings – Men

(Top 3 Placings from Each Race)

2023 Road Race Label Standings – Women

(Top 3 Placings from Each Race)

2023 Road Race Label Standings – Wheelchair