Martin Reader is the first Comox Valley athlete to take the world stage at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and two more are waiting in the wings.
Seven-time Canadian champion Geoff Kabush of Courtenay is attending his third Olympics and competes in the cross-country mountain bike race on Sunday, Aug. 12 at Hadleigh Farm. Fans can watch the action at 5:30 a.m. PDT on either TSN or CTV.
Black Creek long-distance runner Cam Levins runs the 10,000m final on Saturday, Aug. 4 at Olympic Stadium with television coverage slated for 1:15 p.m. PDT. There are no preliminaries in this event; all runners compete in the final.
Levins is also competing in the 5,000m. The first round goes Wednesday, Aug. 8 with TV coverage at 2:45 a.m. PDT. The final goes Saturday, Aug. 11 with TV coverage set for 11:30 a.m. PDT.
More info on the athletes and a link to support them on Facebook are on the Canadian Olympic Committee website at olympic.ca.
Meanwhile, one local supporter has created a fan page for Levins. Marilyn Atkinson notes the Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Cam-Levins/299561896809769 is not endorsed by Levins, but says, "I am just really excited about how well he has done this spring, winning NCAAs and then qualifying for Olympics with A standards. He presents very well as an intelligent, articulate, young man," said Atkinson, whose daughter was in the Comox Valley Cougars track and field club along with Levins back in the early 2000s.
"Anyway I just thought if it was in the newspaper we could generate lots of 'likes', interest and positive comments for him," Atkinson added.