Cam Levins of Black Creek will have some Vancouver Island company at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto (July 10-26).
The middle-distance specialist will be joined by fellow former Comox Valley Cougars Track & Field Club member Michael Mason, a high jumper from Nanoose Bay. Both earned bronze medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and are touted to be on the podium next month in Ontario.
The two were among the 46 men and 43 women named Sunday to the Canadian track and field team for the Toronto Games. Joining them will be Nanaimo’s Katelynn Ramage in the women’s 20K race walk.
Levins, a 5,000m and 10,000m finalist at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, crushed the Canadian 10,000m record by 16 seconds with a 27:07.51 clocking at the Portland Track Festival on May 29. He is one of eight athletes named to the Pan-Am team after setting a Canadian record this year.
In an earlier interview with the Record, Levins said he is looking forward to the Pan Am Games. “Having them in Toronto, in Canada, with the home crowd. Even if it is out east, it’s still really cool to be able to compete in Canada in a major event.
“I’m planning on just doing the 5K at the Pan Am Games. I think the world championships (in Beijing in August) are up in the air. I’ll at least do the 10K. I think I’ll definitely be signed up for the 5K, just because it’s after the 10K. The 10K is sort of my big focus for the season,” the G.P. Vanier graduate said.
