After reaching the final in the men’s 5,000m at his Olympic debut in Paris last year, Thomas Fafard of Repentigny, Que., has been looking for that next challenge.
“The marathon has been on my mind for a few years now,” Fafard tells Canadian Running. “It’s actually the distance that made me fall in love with running when I was a kid.”
On Dec. 21, the 26-year-old will line up with 100 elite athletes at the return of The Marathon Project in Chandler, Ariz. For Fafard, the race is about testing himself, rather than making a permanent move up in distance. “I just want to try it, see how my legs respond, and figure out where it might take me,” he says.
At last year’s Paris Olympics, Fafard advanced through the men’s 5,000m heats and finished 22nd in the final. Coming off a breakthrough year, the marathon was still on his mind, but he didn’t want to rush the transition immediately after the Games. “With the Olympics behind me and a slightly tougher year on the track, I feel like now is the right time,” he says.
Fafard says choosing Chandler was a straightforward decision. The criterium-style course at Wild Horse Pass Resort offers a flat loop, personal nutrition tables and pacers for specific target times. “It lets me control the environment a bit more,” he says. “Both nutrition and pacing would be trickier at bigger races.”
While the marathon is more than eight times longer than his track specialty, Fafard has already proven himself on the roads. Last November, he placed seventh at the B.A.A. Boston Half in 62:17—a mark that ties him for seventh on the Canadian all-time list for the half-marathon distance (21.1 km).
Plus, The Marathon Project, last held in 2020, is known for producing fast times. That year, Canadian marathon record holder Natasha Wodak ran 2:26:17 to achieve the Olympic standard and secure her spot on the national team for Tokyo 2020. This year, pace groups will target finishing times from 2:06:00 to 2:35:00.
Fafard won’t be the only Canadian in the men’s elite field. He will be joined by Vancouver’s Thomas Broatch, a 2:10 marathoner and 2023 Canadian marathon champion who confirmed his entry earlier this summer.
For Fafard, the timing couldn’t be better. “The late December date gives me enough build-up and allows me to train mostly outside before the snow hits in Quebec,” he says.
