Van Leeuwen completes six world major marathons

Jane Van Leeuwen displays her medal from completing the Abbott World Marathon Majors, a journey that took her to Japan, Europe, and the United States to run six marathons. (Jeff Helsdon Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

When Jane Van Leeuwen started running later in life, never did she imagine the quest to complete the world’s six major marathons would take her half-way around the world.

To put it in perspective, she is one of only 488 Canadian women who have completed the six majors, which is known as the Abbott World Marathon Majors. Each marathon is 42.2 kilometers in length.

She recalled years ago, while volunteering at the hospital, she ran into a girl who completed the six majors.

“My first thoughts of this was are you crazy,” she laughed

This all changed when she was 43 and met neighbour Laurie Monk, who was an inspiration.

“I was starting to dabble in running because I had more time with my kids being older,” she recalled.

Monk turned out to be an inspiration as she was a few years older and still running. Van Leeuwen’s goal became to run a half-marathon by the time she was 50. She and Monk ended up running the Toronto Island half-marathon for women only to meet her goal.

“I loved it so much I started training for my first full marathon,” she said.

She then ran the Toronto Scotiabank half-marathon, and finished with a good time.

“I ran it so well, I put my time into New York City, which is a world major,” she said, explaining her time did qualify her.

At 52, she completed New York.

“I was six seconds away from qualifying for Boston,” she said. “I thought I was that close, I had to try for Boston.

The Boston Marathon is one of the toughest to get into, requiring times to be five minutes faster than the qualifying time. This brought Van Leeuwen to the Philadelphia marathon in 2021, where she qualified for Boston with 13 minutes to spare.

“It’s the toughest one to run, it’s the hilliest,” Van Leeuwen said, adding with a smile, “After that it’s all downhill.”

With two of the world majors under her belt, Van Leeuwen decided on her ultimate goal.

“One I ran Boston, I had my whole goal to run all the world majors,” she said. “Then I realized how much of a goal it is.”

The remaining world majors – Tokyo, London, Chicago and Berlin – were a little different. There are no qualifying times for Tokyo, London, and Berlin, and the ability to run is earned either through making a charitable donation, going with a tour group, or winning a spot in a lottery. Van Leeuwen donated to Ronald McDonald House to compete in Tokyo and accompanied a tour group to Berlin and London.

She finished Berlin in September with her husband, Larry Stuyt, to complete the six.

Van Leeuwen went into the competition with aspirations of setting a new personal best.

“It was the hottest (marathon) on record. I was excited and I was looking forward to a personal best, and it was the worst,” she recounted. “It literally goes down as the hottest marathon on record. People were collapsing all over. I reached the point where I was hyperventilating. I called (daughter) Cassandra on the course, and she calmed me down.”

Mentioning her daughter, Van Leeuwen said Cassandra has been a big supporter, and she completed a half-marathon more than seven years ago.

“All my training runs, she encouraged me, cheered me on,” she said.

When Van Leeuwen completed the Berlin marathon, she was pulled aside by officials. She was presented with her medal for finishing the marathon in a separate area and given the Abbott World Marathon Majors medal. She was also part of the flag ceremony in Berlin, carrying it with a Canadian male runner.

“They treated me like a celebrity,” Van Leeuwen recounted. “They escorted me to s separate place and took photos. When I walked away, literal strangers wanted to have their picture with me. They haven’t heard of this.”

Stuyt said seeing a person with the medal for the six majors isn’t something he and Van Leeuwen had seen in the other marathons either.

“It’s such a rare thing to win that,” he said.

It's taken intense training to complete the six majors in such a short time, and Van Leeuwen credited the ability to work part-time for Stuyt’s company as a positive factor. She also mentioned his support was integral, as was the boost from the entire family.

She trains by running a minimum of 10 kilometers three to four times per week, in addition to bicycling, swimming, and strength training.

“I’m a firm believer in cross-training to ward off injuries,” she said.

Stuyt pointed out that statistically speaking, the chance of injury when completing the six majors is 100 per cent. Van Leeuwen managed to complete it unscathed, except for Planta’s fasciitis, which developed early in the journey.

One of her goals after Boston was to complete the world majors while her mother, who is now 91, was still alive. Van Leeuwen became concerned when there was a two-year delay due to COVID, but was happy her mother saw her achieve her goal.

With one goal down, Van Leeuwen is moving on to the next: she and Stuyt plan on completing half-marathons in each of the Canadian capital cities.