Six days after Canadian distance runner Rory Linkletter set a personal best over the half-marathon distance in Japan, he was back on the start line at Saturday’s Mesa-Phoenix Half Marathon in Arizona. Linkletter, who is gearing up for the 2025 Boston Marathon on April 21, won the race outright with a time of 62:36.
“Two half marathons in 6 days,” Linkletter wrote on social media. “A great way to transition into the next phase of the Boston build.”
The 28-year-old admitted he hadn’t fully recovered from his 60:57 run in Japan the previous week. Nonetheless, he says he pushed his body to 90 per cent of his maximum effort to secure the win. “The objective was to run only as hard as I had to in order to win and practice some racing tactics,” Linkletter wrote on Strava. “I went 10K chill with the group, made a 2-3 min hard move, settled again and then pushed the last two kilometres.”
Linkletter ultimately won the race by 11 seconds over American-German marathoner Aaron Gruen, who finished second in 62:47.
It’s not often you see athletes preparing for races by racing half marathons on opposite sides of the world on back-to-back weekends. Linkletter says his strategy was to prepare his body for the rigours of the 2025 Boston Marathon, now 10 weeks away.
Last fall, Linkletter underwent a significant change in his training after his previous coach, Ryan Hall, stepped away from the sport. He teamed up with American marathon coach Jon Green, who also coaches American Olympic medallist Molly Seidel. Under Green’s guidance, Linkletter finished in the top 15 at the 2024 NYC Marathon, recording the fastest time ever by a Canadian at the race (2:11:45).
Linkletter wasn’t the only Canadian seeking the warm February weather in Arizona to test their fitness. Canadian women’s marathon record holder, Natasha Wodak, finished fifth in the women’s field with a time of 1:11:13. The women’s race was won by American trail runner Lauren Gregory in 69:12.
For full results from the 2025 Mesa Marathon weekend, check here.
