Posted: July 7, 2004

Athletics: Canada's First Four Minute Mile

As I drove along the highway from London, Canada to Cambridge on the afternoon of Friday, June 18, 2004, I was thinking of the years between 1959 and 1965 when I had trained with many of Canada's top milers. I thought of those fun times and that I was about to see some of those former teammates after many years. I was on the way to attend the First Annual Cambridge Classic Mile Runs in Cambridge, Ontario. That evening a series of mile races were being run on a new red crushed brick track which was similar to the tracks of years gone by.

The guest of honor was David Bailey. Special guests also in attendance were Ergas Leps, Bruce Kidd, Bill Crothers, plus several other runners from the olden days some of whom I had trained with over forty years before.

First of all, I found it interesting that after the elite mile was run that evening in 2004, it had became apparent that the current elite milers who had run that evening had developed an additional respect for those guests who had not had the opportunity to run on the tracks of today.

The evening set me to additional thinking of Canadian miling in the 1960s. I remembered the numerous times that the guests mentioned above attempted to run a mile under four minutes.

I remembered the mile won by East York Track Club star Bruce Kidd in Toronto on July 21, 1962. Bruce ran a Canadian record 4:01.4 that evening. Bruce's run was faster than the 4:04.6 Rich Ferguson ran to place third in the miracle mile run between Roger Bannister and John Landy in Vancouver on August 7, 1954. In that same race in Toronto in 1962, Bruce's teammate, 17 year old David Bailey, ran 4:07.7 to break Ron Clarke's world record for 17 year olds.

Over the next four years, there had been other Canadian runners who ran within three seconds of the elusive goal of four minutes. Jim Irons of the Toronto Olympic Club ran 4:01.9 in Toronto on July 12, 1963. Bill Crothers, another East Yorker, ran 4:02.5 in Toronto on July 20, 1963. The West Coast of Canada got into the act with John Valiant running 4:02.7 in Los Angeles on May 23, 1964.

On July 24, 1965, Bill Crothers ran 4:02.4 in Toronto. In that same race David Bailey lowered his best mile time to 4:02.9.

On August 13, 1964, in Kingston, Jamaica, Ergas Leps of the Toronto Track Club, lowered the Canadian record to 4:01.1.

And then, in June of 1966, Coach Fred Foot was scheduled to accompany some of the East York Track Club team to a meet to be held in San Diego on June 11 Fred knew that David Bailey was ready to challenge four minutes but he could not obtain a plane ticket for him so the coach transferred his own plane ticket to David.

In that race were two fine milers, Jim Grelle and Neil Duggan, plus others. Grelle and Duggan took out the pace and went on to record times in the 3:56 range setting up a perfect pace for David who finished in a Canadian record of 3:59.1 thus becoming the first Canadian to run a mile in less than four minutes.

In Cambridge, Ergas Leps said that he was driving on the freeway in Toronto that evening when he heard the news about David's historic run. Ergas said that he then pulled over to the side of the road and cried.

Canada now had a four minute miler but there had yet to be a Canadian break that barrier in Canada so, on July 22, 1967, another attempt was made in Toronto. After the first three laps, David Bailey became inspired, received an additional shot of adrenaline and got down to work. The result was a mile in 3:57.7. David had broken his own Canadian record. He had also become the first Canadian to run a mile under four minutes on Canadian soil.

As I drove back to London later on that evening in 2004, I had further thoughts of those days, those races and those training buddies. I also thought that it was a pleasure to know and to have trained with the great athletes who had shaped Canadian running history.

From: Orville Atkins