CLIMBING THE MARATHON
LADDER
Justin Kent is rising the marathon ranks and is setting his sights on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
BY LOUISE HODGSON-JONES CONNOR MACFADYEN, RONALD LEE, JULIE PORTER IMPACT guest editor, communications & event specialist in Victoria, B.C. LOUISEHODGSONJONES
LOUISE.HODGSONJONES
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ustin K e n t attributes the pandemic as the impetus to his transition to marathon running. A middle-distance runner from schoolage, when lock-down happened in 2020 the track season was cancelled. He had a few 10-kilomtere runs under his belt so decided to trial a half marathon distance and really enjoyed it. Then with the absence of the major marathons that year, came the Marathon Project in December 2020, when 40 elite men and 34 elite women came together to run a six-loop course, in the Arizona desert. Kent was one of them, running his first marathon in a credible 2:17: 22 but was disappointed: “It was tough and I hit the wall," he recalls. Undeterred and under the tutelage of his coach Richard Lee he continued to train and enjoy his newly found distance. In the fall of 2024, he won the Canadian nationals at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in a time of 2:12:17. Then riding on a momentum he decided to try for a 2:10 and chose a flat course, the McKirdy Marathon in Rockland Lake State Park, Congers, New York. It ended up being more of a race than he thought: “We had a pacer through to 30 kilometres then the last 12 kilometres it became a race which was awesome. I even did a sprint finish which looking back was crazy. The pace came pretty easy and everything just clicked.”
22 I Running Issue 2026 I IMPACT MAGAZINE