With less than two weeks to go until the 2025 Boston Marathon, Canadian fans have plenty to be excited about as Canada’s second-fastest marathoner, Rory Linkletter, will be lining up in the elite men’s field. If you follow Linkletter on Strava, you’ll know he’s in the best shape of his career—but his final big workout before Boston deserves some special attention.
On April 5, Linkletter joined coach James McKirdy’s training group, featuring 2:06 Olympic marathoner Tebello Ramakongoana and 2:10 American marathoner Nathan Martin, for a tough session: two 8 km (five-mile) reps at around goal half-marathon pace, with one mile of steady running between. Linkletter completed each 8 km rep in just over 23 minutes, averaging an impressive 2:53/km (20.7 km/h).
To cap off the workout, Linkletter added an extra 5K rep, clocking an impressive 14:31. The total session covered more than 24 km, with Linkletter hitting the half-marathon mark in 62:45—a time only 12 Canadian men have ever dipped under. Including the steady recovery segments, he averaged a speedy pace of 2:58/km across the entire workout.
The 28-year-old from Calgary is coming off a 10,000m personal best of 27:48 at Sound Running’s The TEN and has a packed spring race schedule. On April 21, Linkletter will return to the Boston Marathon for the second time, aiming to improve on his 33rd-place finish from 2021. Five weeks later, he will headline the 2025 Ottawa Marathon on May 25.
Linkletter has been on a tear since he ran his marathon personal best of 2:08:01 at the 2024 Seville Marathon in Spain in February last year. That run earned him a spot on Canada’s Olympic team for Paris 2024, where he finished 47th on a tough course in his first Olympic Games. Reflecting on that experience in a chat with Canadian Running, he shared that the Olympics humbled him and fuelled his determination to become the best marathoner he can be by LA 2028.
