Last spring, Moh Ahmed and his Bowerman Track Club teammates were training in downtown Portland, Ore., when he ran into fellow Canadian distance runner Cam Levins, who had just finished a workout. Levins asked him to join him for a 70-minute run.
It felt like 2012 for Ahmed, who was reminded of Levins’s powerful and sturdy form “when he was at his best.” That year, Levins won the Bowerman Award as the most outstanding male track and field athlete of the year.
“It was like he used to run,” Ahmed, who was seventh in that 5,000 final at NCAAs, recalled of that spring run during an interview this week with CBC Sports. “He looked really friggin’ good.”
“I didn’t get to give him a great final race [on the track] but we had lots of fun battles up to that point. I would describe our relationship as a friendly rivalry over the years,” said Levins, who transitioned to road racing in 2017 and hasn’t looked back. He has improved upon his 2018 Canadian record in the marathon, added the national mark in the half marathon and set a North American record in the Tokyo Marathon in early March.
Ahmed and Levins will stand on the start line for their Ottawa 10K debut at the Canadian championships. It will also mark the 32-year-old Ahmed’s first road race since he ran the 5K and 8K as a high schooler in St. Catharines, Ont.
The Somalia-born athlete noted road racing is a different stimulus and added: “You’re not going round and round [a track] and returning to the same point [multiple times]. The pace is probably going to be quick and the entire race is going to be challenging.”
“It’s giving an opportunity for Canadian fans to see us,” Ahmed said. “More than anything, it’s a celebration of Canadian running. I’d like to think me and Cam were somewhat responsible for [a] resurgence in Canadian distance running and hopefully inspired a lot of people.”
The Ottawa 10K course record is 27:24, held by Deriba Merga of Ethiopia since 2009.
“I’m not looking for any goal paces, said Ahmed, a three-time Olympian whose fastest 10,000 is 26:34.14. “I’m not going to get ahead of myself, just compete and [put forth] a good effort.”
“I’m feeling good, training hard, said Ahmed, who became Canada’s first Olympic medalist in the 5,000 with silver in Tokyo in 2021. “I’m doing the same stuff [I did] when I ran 12:47.20 [in July 2020 for a personal best and then-North American record].”
Levins, 34, is racing in preparation for the Canadian half marathon championships being held in Winnipeg for a third straight year on June 18. He was the winner last year finishing a record one hour three minutes 23 seconds before the race was called due to the heat.
He added while Ahmed’s appearance is “very exciting for fans of the sport,” it will make the goal of setting either a Canadian and/or course record more challenging.
“He’s on a completely different level than when we competed [11 years ago],” said Levins of Ahmed. “I felt I had an advantage against him [then] and now I feel very much the underdog.”
In February, Athletics Canada named Levins and four athletes to its team ahead of others for this year’s worlds but he withdrew recently, saying he wants to devise a different race plan leading up to the Paris Olympics next summer “mostly because it’s a difficult course.”
“I realized I could put myself in the same position going into Paris if I don’t pre-sync what I’m doing between now and then,” Levins said. “Having a really good [PB of 2:05:36 from the Tokyo Marathon] I don’t think I need to overload how many marathons I’m doing.
“There will be another marathon [for me] in the fall. I just can’t say [which one] because I’m working out a contract [with the organizers].”
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