Geoff Martinson came close to making Canada's Olympic team in 2012 as a 1,500-metre running specialist.
He didn't quite make the cut for London but he did prove he deserved a world-class ranking when he advanced to the 1,500m semifinals at the 2011 world track and field championships in Daegu, South Korea.
Martinson is now 27 and living in Victoria where he sells real estate. While he's tapered his running training schedule down to 120 km per week, he's not exactly slowing down. On Jan. 12 in Victoria the former Prince George resident topped a field of 625 runners and won the Harrier's Pioneer Road Race, which doubles as the B.C. provincial road championship.
Martinson covered the eight-kilometre course in 23 minutes 41 seconds, eight seconds faster than his winning time in 2013 and 21 seconds ahead of Adam Watson of Vancouver, who finished second in 24:02. Martinson caught Watson about 400 metres before the finish.
"I heard I was eight seconds faster than last year and I'm happy about that because I didn't think I was in as good of shape as I was last year," Martinson told Athletics Illustrated.
"It makes a huge difference having somebody to chase [Watson]. You kind of get a psychological boost when you feel like you're catching up. The conditions were good and I just ran conservative and it paid off."
Martinson, a Prince George secondary school graduate who went on to study at the University of Victoria, is the defending Frontrunners Race Series/B.C. Timex Race Series champion, winning five of eight events last year.
