Cam Levins has shattered the elusive Canadian marathon record.

The 29-year-old from Black Creek, B.C., ran two hours nine minutes 25 seconds in the Toronto Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon in his marathon debut. He was also crowned the national marathon champion as the first Canadian across the finish line.

Jerome Drayton set the previous record, one of the oldest on the books, of 2:10:09 in 1975.

B次元官网网址淩eality is, with 3K left I knew I could do it and with half a kilometre left, I was certain it was going to happen,B次元官网网址� said Levins. B次元官网网址滻 was just enjoying the moment.B次元官网网址�

Levins earned a bonus of $43,000 B次元官网网址� $1,000 for every year the record stood B次元官网网址� for breaking the mark.

Benson Kipruto of Kenya won the gold in 2:07:24, with Levins finishing fourth overall. HamiltonB次元官网网址檚 Reid Coolsaet was 10th in 2:17.37 in the menB次元官网网址檚 race.

Kinsey Middleton of Guelph, Ont., won the Canadian womenB次元官网网址檚 title in 2:32:09. She was seventh among all women.

LevinsB次元官网网址� victory comes after a couple of injury-plagued seasons for the Olympian. Levins was CanadaB次元官网网址檚 best distance runner on the track for several seasons, running both the 5,000 and 10,000 metres at the London Olympics, and capturing bronze in the 10,000 at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

But he injured his ankle while crossing the finish line of the 1,500 metres at the 2015 Canadian championships. The injury required surgery and wiped out the better part of the next two seasons.

B次元官网网址淚t just makes it that much more sweet, entering the last 10 kilometres of this race I was thinking to myself that B次元官网网址業B次元官网网址檓 going to take back my career, IB次元官网网址檓 going to be back to the athlete I know I can be,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� said Levins.

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press

Like us on and follow us on .