With support from the UFV community, Vincent Pagot achieved the dream of many a long-distance runner when he competed in the 2025 Boston Marathon. 

The Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon, dating back to 1897, and it’s been on Vincent’s radar since he took up running in 2013. Vincent, who works on UFV’s Campus Planning and Facilities Management (CPFM) team, first qualified for Boston in 2019 when he ran a marathon (42.2 kilometres) in under three hours, but the 2020 race was cancelled by the pandemic. 

When he qualified again last year, he wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass him by. 

“It’s the hardest to qualify for, and when I turned 40, I figured I should do it now because I couldn’t be sure I’d qualify again,” he said. 

Ingi El-Hadi, associate vice president of CPFM, was determined to help and offered to arrange sponsorship for Vincent. This included UFV-branded gear that Vincent wore in the marathon, and partially offsetting the costs for going to Boston. 

Vincent flew to Massachusetts on April 18 and had two days to be a tourist. With more than 32,000 runners from 118 countries registered, the city was chaotic leading up to race day on the April 21. Vincent doesn’t normally enjoy crowds of people, but he liked talking with a couple of other runners, one from Japan and the other from Texas. The atmosphere on race day was electric, and a little overwhelming. A shuttle brought him to the start line at 6:45 am and that’s where, surrounded by thousands of people, he found a surprising moment of calm. 

“It was strangely quiet just before the start of the race because everyone was focusing,” he explained. 

Vincent started training in earnest in January, spending four months building up his strength and stamina. The hard work paid off during the marathon.  

Heartbreak Hill lies about three quarters of the way through the race and has ended the dreams of many a marathoner. Vincent tackled it without issue. He resisted the urge to go too fast at the start of the race, stayed patient, and watched as others around him fell off. 

“If you don’t hydrate well enough, don’t get enough carbohydrates, or don’t maintain the right pace, a lot of runners hit a wall around 30–32 kilometres,” he says. “People around me were pulling up with cramps and I thought: ‘for once that wasn’t me.’ 

“But I was really sore for two weeks after.” 

Vincent finished 2671st overall in two hours, 52 minutes, and seven seconds. He’ll always remember how it felt in the last few moments of the race. 

“The last kilometre is a straight line where you can see the finish way down the street,” he says. “I was in pain, but I wanted to enjoy it, so I started listening to the cheers and really paying attention. It all sunk in after I crossed the finish line — all the months of training in the cold and the snow – and I finally did it.” 

Vincent is thankful for the support of the UFV community. For weeks leading up to the marathon, pictures of Vincent appeared on the TV screens outside of the CPFM office in Building B on the Abbotsford campus. He thinks they’re still running, as people continue to approach him in the hallways to congratulate him. “It’s always motivating to have people backing you, and talking to people about it has been nice,” he said. “It was a great experience that I’ll always treasure, and I have been very proud to represent UFV.”