1st Canadiann & other N/S American sub-4:00 miles

[Master Po]

rasb posted this query on the "first Native American sub-4:00 milers" thread

Does anyone know the first 4-minute milers from countries south of the USA, and North of Antarctica ? :wink: ... I must confess that I don't know for sure who has that title in Canada... Anybody ?

Seemed interesting enough for its own thread -- I realize of course that my initiating this thread ensures its speedy demise, but oh well...

I will hazard a guess about Canada, based on Athletics Canada's all-time lists (http://www.athletics.ca/main.asp), which for 1500m go down to 3:41.84 and for the mile to 3:59.8. So, someone who just got under the 4:00 threshold or its 1500m equivalent earlier than these might be missing, but here is the earliest sub-4:00 and 1500m equivalent on those lists:

3:57.7 David Bailey 22 July 67 (Toronto)
3:39.6 Norm Trerise 1 August 68 (Vancouver)

Now I will try to look up something for Mexico, otherwise I will have to get to work.

:wink:

[mcgato]

This might help you out.
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/%7Ersparks/sub4-dat.htm

It looks like Dave Bailey is the first Canadian in 1966.
It looks like Juan Martinez is the first Mexican in 1975.

[Master Po]

This might help you out.
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/%7Ersparks/sub4-dat.htm

It looks like Dave Bailey is the first Canadian in 1966.
It looks like Juan Martinez is the first Mexican in 1975.

Thanks mcgato -- now I have no choice but to do the work of my real job... :wink:

But first...one of the things I appreciate about the historical topics is learning about previously unknown (to me) athletes, such as these.

Wikipedia bio for Dave Bailey:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Bailey_(athlete)

and for Juan Martinez (I think it's the same guy -- no mention of the sub-4:00 data) -- he was 4th in both the 5k and 10k at the Mexico City OG:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_M%C3% ... t%C3%ADnez

[mcgato]

The first Mexican sub-4 Juan Martinez may be the same guy that keeps up this site, which has a lot of cool stuff.
http://www.juanjosemartinez.com.mx/running.html

[wineturtle]

The first Mexican sub-4 Juan Martinez may be the same guy that keeps up this site, which has a lot of cool stuff.
http://www.juanjosemartinez.com.mx/running.html

linkmaster mcgato- FTW

[rasb]

I was thinking of the first Canadian with some Native American heritage to go under 4:00....I still don't know the answer...

[orvilleatkins]

David Bailey was the first Canadian to break four minutes when he ran 3:59:1 in San Diego on June 11, 1966. East York Track Club Coach Fred Foot and members of the club had plane tickets to go to that meet but the promoter would not pay David's way so Coach Foot had sent him in his place.
Then on July 22, 1967, Coach Foot entered David and Bill Crothers in a mile race at Varsity Stadium on the campus of the University of Toronto. With about a lap to go Bill dropped out, and with that David took off. David's winning time of 3:57.7 made him the first Canadian to break 4 minutes on Canadian soil.
David now has an advanced Pharmacy Degree and is a research scientist. He made the discovery that grapefruit and some medicines are not compatible.
David Bailey, Bill Crothers and Bruce Kidd were all members of the East York Track Club and all also went to the University of Toronto where Coach Fred Foot was the distance coach.

[Conor Dary]

I was thinking of the first Canadian with some Native American heritage to go under 4:00....I still don't know the answer...

The first Eskimo to break 4? Perhaps Nanook of the North. :lol:

[rasb]

I was thinking of the first Canadian with some Native American heritage to go under 4:00....I still don't know the answer...

The first Eskimo to break 4? Perhaps Nanook of the North. :lol:

Oh, Conor, now you are just being silly - I would never do that :wink:

But back to the original question, I have tried to do a bit of research, and I can't find a Canadian, with Native American blood lines, who has run under 4:00 minutes for the mile.
Carey Nelson, who I had the pleasure of coaching for a year or so in the mid 1980's, is partially Native American - perhaps 25 % or more ?
He never ran 4:00 on the track, but he did run: 3:40.50, 7:48.04, 13:29.20,
28:04.05, 2:12. 28, and made the 5000 metre final in Rome in 1987. A very good range, but no 4:00 mile.
On the Women's side, Angela Chalmers is a member of the Sioux nation.
She ran 4:01.61, 8:32.17 (Canadian record), 15:09.35, finished 3rd in the 3000 metres in the 1992 Olympics, and won 3 Commonwealth Gold Medals in 1990 in Auckland, and 1994 in Victoria. Still no 4:00 though...