Winners: Bruce Kidd, Athletics

1961 - Feature Story

Bruce Kidd had already demonstrated his running prowess when he embarked on his first major race of 1961 – the men’s two-mile event at the Knights of Columbus indoor meet in Boston. Just 17 years old, Kidd was coming off a sensational 1960 season that saw him win more than 20 races ranging from 880 yards to 5,000m, including breaking his own world junior record in the three-mile run. That effort earned him Canada’s top junior athlete award for 1960. But life was about to get even better for the Toronto teen in 1961. Kidd won the two-mile race in Boston and broke the meet record with a time of 8:49.2. He went on to defeat older, more experienced runners indoors and outdoors, throughout Canada and the United States.  By the end of the year,  Kidd, now 18, had set 15 Canadian records and won the national title in the three miles.  In 1961, he also became the youngest athlete to win a United States indoor track title, by winning the two-mile championship.

1962 - Feature Story

Bruce Kidd remained Canada’s premier middle distance runner in 1962. At the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia, he won the Gold medal in the six-mile race, bettering the Games record by some 20 seconds. Kidd also earned a Bronze medal in the three-mile event. Earlier in the year, he set American records in 5,000m and three miles and upset New Zealand star Murray Halberg in California.

Career Highlights

• 2004 Appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada
• 1968 Inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame
• 1962 Gold medal in 6-mile, Bronze medal in 3-mile at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia
• 1961, 1962 Lionel Conacher Award (Canada’s male athlete of the year)
• 1961 Lou Marsh Memorial Award