Two more Comox Valley athletes are preparing for their events at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Cam Levins of Black Creek runs the 10,000m final on Saturday, Aug. 4 at 1:15 p.m. PDT. On Wednesday, Aug. 8 he runs the first round of the 5,000m event at 2:45 a.m. PDT. The top eight advance to the final, which goes Saturday, Aug. 11 at 11:30 a.m. PDT.
The first-time Olympian has had a meteoric rise on the Canadian distance running scene and is a three-time Canadian cross-country champion (2009, 2011-2012) and completed a gold medal double at the 2012 NCAA championships that had not been matched in over a decade, making him just the 11th man to win the "distance double" after he won the 5000m (13: 40.05), just two days after he won the 10,000m (28: 07.14).
Levins represented Canada at the 2011 World Cross Country Championships in Punta Umbria and is a two-time 2009 Canada Games champion in the 1500m and the 5000m.
Meanwhile, Courtenay's Geoff Kabush is gearing up to appear in his third consecutive Olympic Games. He races the men's mountain bike cross-country event on the final day of competition, Sunday, July 12 at 5:30 a.m. PDT.
He had a ninth place finish in Sydney in 2000 and a top-20 result in Beijing in 2008. Kabush has dominated the Canadian mountain bike scene, earning consecutive podium spots at the Canadian championships since 2004 – seven of them gold.
In 2011, Kabush finished in the top-10 at the World Championships in Champery, Switzerland. He competed in several World Cups and had three top-20 finishes.