© Copyright – 2025 – Athletics Illustrated
“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
— Vivian Greene, British writer, world’s foremost expert on doll’s houses.
The 2025 Royal Victoria Marathon got off to a hot start in cool temperatures, with the eventual winners Louis Maruk and Cassandra De Winter prevailing. The rain held off for the half-marathon runners, but the marathoners learned to dance past the doll-like houses of Oak Bay.
Men’s race
Louis Marmar Maruk, who is a Ugandan refugee living in Greater Vancouver, was channelling fellow countryman Jacob Kiplimo, who had earlier in the day won the Chicago Marathon in his debut. While Kiplimo was racing for big prize money and the Ugandan record, Maruk was just trying to establish himself on the west coast of Canada. Kiplimo clocked a 2:02:23 performance for the national record.
Maruk ran fast off the gun to leave the field behind as he raced to a first 10 km split of 30:37 and on pace for a 2:09 finish. If he kept that pace up, the performance would be a two-minute course record. The current record is held by Kenyan Lamech Mokono, who ran 2:13:42 in 2013.
At 14 km, he was on pace for 2:11; the fast start was already affecting him, over the rolling course. By 17km, still running alone, his pace was dropping to a 2:16 finish. Meanwhile, Lethbridge’s Kip Kangogo, at age 46, was gaining. Kangogo is a former winner and is familiar with the Victoria route, having run it several times.
By 21 km, Maruk had slowed to a 2:17 pace.
Biding their time were Christian Chan, 2024 winner Aidan Anderson and Brendon Wong, all from Greater Vancouver and all trying to work together to close the gap on Kangogo, who knew Maruk was going to fade.
Maruk ended up finishing first, but in a time of 2:24:29. He had a few final kms around the four-minute mark.
Kangogo’s wife and four children watched from the VIP tent during the final stage of the race as he got within 35 seconds of Maruk to set the course 45-49 age-group record at 2:25:04. The record previously belonged to Jim Finlayson, Cameron Levins’ coach. Kangogo missed hearing instructions to take the left marathon lane toward the finish and ran fast into a crowd of half-marathon finishers. As he weaved around slower runners, he crept over the 2:25:00 benchmark.
Chan, Anderson, and Wong all finished within 59 seconds of each other, going 2:26:22, 2:26:37 and 2:27:21, respectively. Brett Crowley and James Lamers both finished under 2:30:00, recording 2:29:31 and 2:29:52, respectively.
“It was a little slower than what I wanted, but I came in a little undertrained, as we have a baby at home now,” shared Wong.
“This is a great race, the people are so nice and respectful, and the atmosphere is great. I really enjoyed my run here,” shared Maruk.
Women’s race
Unlike the men’s race, Cassandra De Winter ran within their ability to do so, from the start.
De Winter, a mother of three with the youngest at just nine months, cracked the 2:40 barrier by eight seconds with her 2:39:52 performance, which was a big personal best. De Winter came into the race sporting a 2:48 personal best.
Finishing in second place was Vancouver ultra runner Kat Drew, and taking third was 2019 winner Andrea Lee, originally from Black Creek on Vancouver Island — Levins’ hometown. They finished in 2:44:47 and 2:47:22, respectively. Lee won the race in 2019.
“I was a little worried about switching from the trails to the road, as it is an adjustment. But maybe it’s best to do a little of both,” said De Winter.
Asked what contributed to her improvement, she said, “consistency in training” and “enjoying slow running” (mixed in with some anaerobic work).”
Both Drew and De Winter are ultramarathon runners. In September, De Winter competed in a 100 km trail race.
Winners in the 8K and half-marathon
The first race of the day was the 8K. Liam Donnelly with Triathlon Canada won in a time of 23:59. He was to race head-to-head against Calgary’s Matthew Travaglini, who won the Royal Victoria Half Marathon in 2024 in a PB time of 1:06:35. However, Travaglini caught a cold and decided to run easy with a friend.
Donnelly just came off a whirlwind circumnavigation of the globe to represent Canada in racing a triathlon in China two weeks ago, then in Rome last week, it was a surprise it wasn’t he who had the cold.
Donnelly ran up front and alone and pushed on to a new personal best ahead of former UVic Vike Gabe Van Hezewijk, who also ran a new PB of 24:34. Taking third was Liam Dwyer from Vancouver, who finished in 24:42. Dwyer is a former Victoria-based athlete who ran as a junior under two-time Olympian Bruce Deacon with the junior Harriers.
The top-three women were Jenna Schulz from Vancouver, BC, by way of Waterloo, Ontario. She rolled in at a new PB time of 28:03. Schulz is working with the Thunderbirds Track and Field Club under coach Chris Johnson.
Courtney Brohart and Julia Hawkins followed to fill out the podium. Brohart clocked in at a close 28:15, and Hawks recorded a 28:30.
Men’s half-marathon
In the half-marathon, it was Russell Pennock, from Kelowna, BC, who won in a PB time of 1:05:15. Taking second was Chris Taylor of Vancouver in 1:06:05. The two worked together for most of the race until Pennock turned the screws near the statue of Terry Fox, which stands at the iconic Mile 0 landmark on the edge of Beacon Hill Park. Fox’s brother Daryll Fox was on hand. He made a pre-race speech, and just the mention of the name Fox brought a quick round of applause from spectators and athletes alike.
Where Fox’s statue stands in Victoria, a nearly 1km downhill begins, followed by approximately 2km of flat terrain to the finish. Pennock made strides on that portion of the race.
Taking third was Justin Tyrell of Barrie, Ontario, who rolled in just 30 seconds behind Taylor.
Women’s half-marathon
Claire Sumner, an alumna of Queen’s University, was last seen racing in the capital city in 2017 when she won the U Sport national cross-country championships, just 1km away from the half-marathon finish in Beacon Hill Park.
Sunday, she went out hoping to nip under 1:15:00. She ran hard and alone for much of the race as she was left adrift in a gap, to fight the breeze. While she just missed her goal, she was happy enough considering the situation. Sumner finished in 1:15:13.
The 30-year-old’s personal best was from back in 2018 when she clocked a 1:14:38 in Toronto.
She is planning to run a marathon and was using the Royal Victoria Half Marathon as a hard session to train at the faster pace required for the shorter event. Her personal best is 2:45:23. She will be running the Boston Marathon in 2026.
“I have fond memories of running past Beacon Hill Park from the Queen’s Gaels days. I always enjoy running in Victoria.
“It was a good run even though I didn’t quite run what I wanted,” shared the 2017 and 2019 World Cross Country Championships competitor.
Finishing second was Kiana Gibson, who clocked in at 1:17:23, which is a new personal best time. The former University of Guelph athlete finished fifth at the 2023 Santiago Pan American Games in the 3000m steeplechase.
Maria Galea (formerly Bernard-Galea), who is a UBC alumna, now living in Calgary, flew in to take in the half-marathon. Now a young mother, she is focused on her career and home, but still ran to a third-place finish. The former 3000 steeplechase specialist and strong cross country runner recorded a new personal best of 1:18:25.
Galea is an eight-time NAIA All-American. The now 32-year-old was named the 2015 Herbert B. Marett Outstanding Performer Award winner at the conclusion of the NAIA Outdoor Championships in Gulf Shores, Ala., after winning both the steeplechase (for the second straight time) and the 5,000m at the meet. Galea set the NAIA championship steeplechase record in the preliminaries of the event in 2015.
Shoe strings…
The performance of the day, may have come from Andrew Russell of Saanich. As a master running in the over-40 category (age 43), he finished in a fast 1:11:26 for 12th overall and second master. While the performance on its own is a strong run and just two minutes off his lifetime personal best, the day prior, he raced the Valley Vertkiller 20K in Abbotsford, BC. He won outright and set a three-minute course record.
Nicolas Jirot of Nanaimo won the masters category in 1:10:35 to finish ninth overall. Sarah Hutchings of Calgary, Alberta, took the masters half-marathon win in 1:21:08.
Saturday, the RVM weekend offers a 5K race in Oak Bay along the waterfront at Willows Beach. Charlie Dannatt, formerly with Deacon’s junior squad, now living in Burnaby, in Greater Vancouver, set a course record, going 14:37 for the win. There was a big gap to second place, but Scott Arndt, also of Burnaby, did well to roll in at 15:45 on the clock. Taking third was Victoria runner Aidan Good in 15:48.
Chloe Hewitt of Victoria won the women’s race in 17:44. Carley Gerring took second in 18:18, while Stella McLeod finished in third place, recording an 18:58.
“This year’s RVM was definitely one to be remembered,” said Cathy Noel, RVM General Manager and Race Director. “It was truly incredible to see everything come together after a year of planning. So many highlights for our 45th, including selling out the race distances, new sponsors, probably the most volunteers we’ve ever had, and, of course, seeing thousands of racers coming across that finish line. What a year!”
With 15,466 racers registered, this was the largest event in the RVM’s 45-year history. Final registrations were 4079 in the marathon, 6465 in the half marathon, 3309 in the Westland Insurance 8K, 1001 in the Island Savings 5K and 612 in the Thrifty Foods Kids Run. As part of the race this weekend, RVM was host to the BC Athletics Marathon Road Running Championships.
