Melvin Burton has been avidly training for the Queen City Marathon (QCM). The maintenance man from the North Central Family Centre (NCFC) has developed a passion for the races over the past decade.
“I have lots and lots of dreams, but one dream I have is I want to be a marathon runner,” he said.
Burton has achieved that dream several times over. On Sunday, he’ll take part in his tenth QCM with his team, The Dirty Dozen.
Burton will be taking part in the full 42.2 kilometre race, and said while he is running, he thinks back on the classic children’s story “The Little Engine That Could”.
“Always when I’m running the marathon. I’m thinking like the little train going up the hill ‘I think I can, I think I can,” he said.
QCM’s 10X Club is quite the milestone for marathon participants. This year, the QCM will see its largest number of people joining the club with over 50 runners hitting the 10-race mark.
Race organizers estimate about 6,000 people will take place in this year’s marathon, which runs on Saturday and Sunday.
Burton’s running has also become a time for family bonding as well. He regularly trains with his daughter, Jessie Koch-Burton, who’ll be taking part in the half-marathon.
“It’s good. Like I can spend time with him because sometimes he’s working lots and I can’t spend time with him that much,” Koch-Burton said.
“So it’s actually good going out of town with him.”
The duo have used marathons as a way to travel. Burton has raced around the world, including marathons in Ottawa, Las Vegas, Hawaii, and the Philippines.
“The Philippines is like, we have to run at nighttime, or early in the morning because the heat is so hot,” he remarked.
Burton has no plans of slowing down anytime soon, and said that people considering a marathon just need to stay positive and they can do it.
“I hope that people see this on the news, and I hope they do have a dream like mine and want to be a marathon runner,” Burton said.
“It’s awesome to be on the running team, I love it.”
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