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Natasha Wodak, the Canadian marathon record holder (2:23:12, Berlin 2022), will race the Royal Victoria Half Marathon on Sunday, just two weeks after competing in the World Athletics Road Race Championships half-marathon in Copenhagen, where she ran 1:12:13 to place 55th in the international field.
Wodak will use the Royal Victoria Half Marathon as a fun way to get in a hard training session. Wodak’s version of fun still includes a strong performance, and she is expected to win the race.
“I always love racing in Victoria. It has a great community. Plus, my coach Trent Stellingwerff lives there, so it is always great to connect with him while focusing on an event.”
After Copenhagen, Wodak took a short holiday in Portugal before ramping up her training toward her next big event.
“I took some downtime after the World Half Marathon Championship to enjoy my holiday in Portugal,” said Wodak. “Training since then has been more about building toward the Arizona Marathon Project on Dec. 13. So, I have not had any half-marathon-specific sessions since.”
Wodak holds the RVM half-marathon course record at 1:11:45, which she set in 2018. Her personal best is 1:09:41, the former Canadian national record. The 44-year-old North Vancouver resident was the first Canadian woman under the 1:10 benchmark, running 1:09:41 in Houston in 2020.
The record has since been bettered twice, first by Andrea Seccafien in Marugame, Japan, by three seconds, and then in Copenhagen, where Team Canada teammate Jadyn Keeler smashed the record with her 1:08:03 finish, placing 16th overall.
The men’s race
In the men’s field, the lead may be local runner Brandon Vail, a former University of Victoria Vike who now runs with Speedfarm Racing. His personal best is 1:08:31, set at the 2025 Comox Valley RV Half Marathon. The Edmonton native has run several performances between 1:08:31 and 1:10:12 and will look to improve his personal best on Sunday.
“The fitness is good, and I’ll definitely be going after my PB from Comox in 2025,” shared Vail. “Last month I ran a new PB of 14:23 at Speedfarm’s Barnburner 5K, taking eight seconds off my time from last year’s Bazan Bay race, so I’m feeling confident that with a
good day I can take a sizable chunk from the half marathon time as well!”
Also likely to be mixing it up is Comox Valley native Aidan Anderson, who has run as fast as 1:06:56, a time he recorded on the very fast First Half course in Vancouver.
Anderson’s 1:06:56 and Vail’s 1:08:31 are likely closer in performance than the numbers suggest. The Comox Valley course, while favourable when employing the best tactics, is rolling in nature. The Vancouver course is flat and offers a deeper field of competitors to race with.
The RVM course record is currently held by Cameron Levins, who bettered Jon Brown’s mark three years ago, clocking 1:01:18 in 2023. In 2002, Brown, a three-time Olympian, set the RVM half-marathon course record at 1:02:32 — before super shoes.
While Vail and Anderson won’t be near the course record, they have a chance on Sunday to improve or approach their personal bests on the gently rolling course. The weather is expected to be ideal: cool to mild, sunny and with little wind.
The Royal Victoria Marathon weekend includes a 5 km race in nearby Oak Bay on Saturday, as well as a kids’ 1 km run. On Sunday, the half-marathon is part of a race programme that also includes the 42.195 km flagship marathon and an 8 km race, all starting and finishing in the picturesque Inner Harbour area.
The marathon and half-marathon are sold out, while there is still room in the 8 km and 5 km events. So far, the weekend has surpassed 17,000 registrations for the first time, reaching a record total before race day.
