First time’s the charm for Berubé

Simon Berubé has cemented himself as one of the province’s all-time greatest marathon runners.

The crazy part? It only took him one race to do it.

The former Manitoba Bisons track and field star headed south to compete in the Indianapolis Marathon last month. It was the 28-year-old Winnipegger’s first time running the distance, and he crossed the finish line at 2:19:38.

It’s the first time a Manitoban has clocked in below 2:20:00 in 40 years. It’s also the third-best time ever produced by a product of the Keystone Province as Berubé trails only Bob Walker (2:19:03 at the 1981 Montreal Marathon) and Bob Cook (2:19:10 at the 1985 Chicago Marathon).

It’s safe to say it won’t be his last marathon.

“I’m obviously really happy with it. I kind of surprised myself, I thought I was probably going to run three or four minutes slower than I did,” said Berubé.

“It feels really good. I think it took a couple of days after (the race) when a few people phoned me when I really realized what that meant. The marathon, that’s not my main event, so it makes me hungrier to go out there again and try and be the No. 1 in Manitoba.”

Berubé made a name for himself at the U of M where he won gold in the 4x800m at the 2019 U Sports Track and Field Championships. He also won gold in the 4×800 and the 1000m at the Canada West Championships. His strong campaign led to him being named the 2018-19 Bisons Sports Male Athlete of the Year.

A track athlete hadn’t won the award since 2008-09 when Quin Ferguson did so.

That’ll forever be a tough year for Berubé to beat, but 2025 hasn’t been too shabby either. At the Bison Classic in May, he broke the senior men’s indoor 1500m provincial record with an outstanding time of 3:46.36. The previous record was set 35 years earlier by Henry Klassen (3:47.35).

“A lot of people will finish (competing) when they’re done at the university level, but I’ve been lucky enough to train with a bunch of alumni,” said Berubé, who runs with the Bison Athletic Club and the Manitoba Distance Project.

“There’s a group of four or five of us that have graduated a long time ago from university that are still running and training together, so that’s probably my main reason why I’m still running at the competitive level.”

Berubé had participated in several half marathons before but wanted to push himself further and try a full. Fortunately, he hasn’t had to go far to find someone to push him in training as his father, Claude Berubé, is in his 29th season as the head track and field coach for the Bisons.

“He definitely inspired me to join the sport. I was a hockey player when I was younger, and then he kind of convinced me to join a running group where there were a lot of guys on the team that were around my age, this was at the beginning of high school. And once I started training, I found out that I was way better at running than I was at hockey,” said Berubé.

“He’s been coaching me since I went on the team at the U of M in 2015. Back then, it was him deciding what I do, but now with me being 28 and doing longer workouts and marathon stuff, we’ve been working together on some of the days to kind of change the workouts. But overall, I think what he’s seen in me in running, he’s definitely proud of what I’ve done.”

Berubé, a physical education teacher at Centre scolaire Léo-Rémillard, is already planning ahead and has events in Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa circled on his calendar in 2026.

“He’s been teaching full time for the last two years. I was a full-time teacher at one time and let me tell you, I couldn’t train like he’s doing now,” said Claude.

“It’s just his range of competitiveness and the ability to just persist and be disciplined to train (is what I’m most proud of).”

If he keeps up this pace, there’s a good chance he’ll be living proof that records were made to be broken.

“I’ve been so focused on track and field, like running shorter distances since 2013, so this is all new to me,” he said.

“Hopefully one day, maybe get as close to 2:16 or 2:17 in a marathon, and just keep running as long as I enjoy it.”

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