© Copyright – 2024 – Athletics Illustrated
Calgary, Alberta native Matthew Travaglini will be in Victoria, British Columbia on Sunday, October 13 to attempt his second win at the Royal Victoria Half Marathon. The race is part of the Royal Victoria Marathon weekend of events.
In 2021, Travaglini won in the time of 1:06:44. The 31-year-old will be looking to improve upon that time for the 2024 edition. His personal best over 10K on the road is 29:55 from the 2019 TC10K. The performance is indicative of at least one minute faster over the longer distance event.
“The goal is to start out on 65-minute pace and see how the body is feeling at that effort,” Shared Travaglini.
The route lends itself to competitive times, however, the nature of the course is that it rolls, gently throughout. If in position at near 17 to 18K, the final stretch is downhill with a flat finish.
While Travaglini wants to win, he also sees this race as a springboard in his fitness he would like to carry over to the cross-country season.
“I will be racing cross country this fall. Including some local Alberta races, the provincial championships and national club championships in London, ON.”
But ultimately, he wants to return to the 5000m distance during the spring and summer and to bring down his personal best over that distance. Travaglini has run outdoors (5000m) as fast as 14:14.13 this year in Montreal. He also ran the road 5K, back in 2018, in the time of 14:24. Travaglini appears to be in shape to improve in all distances according to his 3000m performance of 8:08.23 from the Victoria Track Classic at UVic’s Centennial Stadium in June this year. It is a performance that indicates the 13-minute benchmark could be breached.
The Royal Victoria Half Marathon course record was broken last year when North America’s fastest all-time marathon runner Cameron Levins raced to a 1:01:18 performance, bettering three-time Olympian Jon Brown’s 1:02:32 from 2002.
The Royal Victoria Half Marathon is the 2024 Canadian Masters Association national championship. The race has long been sold out, as is the flagship marathon event. Currently, there is a waiting list of over 600 wishing to toe the line, Sunday, October 13.
Find out more at www.runvictoriamarathon.com
