50th Anniversary Celebration of First Canadian Four-Minute Mile

Dave Bailey entered the record books June 11, 1966 as the first Canadian to beat the four-minute mile barrier running a time of 3:59.1 in San Diego, Calif. To mark the 50th anniversary of the sublime occasion Western University hosted a reception on June 19. Bailey, who is a professor emeritus at Western in the clinical pharmacology department, was joined by 14 of the 55 other Canadian sub-four milers at the gathering and remembered vividly his historic race.

“The splits were just perfect,” the 71-year old Bailey recalls. “It was 59, 1:59, 3:00 and hang on. I remember thinking this couldn’t be any more perfect. The thing about this race was that I had never been so nervous in my entire life. I couldn’t stay inside the stadium [before the race]. I went outside and sat under a tree to wait it out because waiting is the worst part.

“And when the gun fired [for the last lap] and we were three minutes, I think I was in second or third place at the time, I accelerated and so did [American] Jim Grelle who was just in front of me. I bumped him. He gave me a really dirty look. And, as a typical Canadian, I said ‘sorry.’

“We went around the backstretch and I was with Grelle and Neil Duggan from England and about halfway down the backstretch Grelle changed gears and went past Duggan. And then he sprinted with 200 m to go and left me kind of f loundering and that last 200 mlooked like it took forever because they were moving away from me and I felt like I was slowing down. When I crossed the finish line I was pretty much convinced I didn’t get there.”

The Toronto resident had finished third. Bill Crothers, his training partner and friend, held up a watch showing 3:58.8, but Bailey waited for the official time which came moments later. He ran 3:59.1. The pair slowly jogged two miles back to the hotel. A year later he improved his national record to 3:57.7 in Toronto, a record which stood until 1977 when Quebec’s Dave Hill ran 3:55.89.

Hill teaches at the University of North Texas and f lew up to join the celebration which had been arranged by London Western Track Club coach Dave Mills. Bailey was pleased to catch up with many of his old friends.

“I was a little overwhelmed that they were going to focus on me because I look upon this as an opportunity to celebrate all Canadian runners who have gone under four minutes,” Bailey, who regularly officiates at local track meets, declares. “It isn’t that many. In 50 years you have 56 people? That’s really not that many.

“When I did it there was this sort of sense of ‘well I have arrived and now I am a legitimate miler.’ I think I was the 74th person to run it. But, more than that, it was something I felt I was pegged to do. Coach Fred Foot was saying I was going to run a four-minute mile. I had the talent and aptitude for the distance. So I had the sense that I fulfilled my goal.”– Paul Gains