When Kidd (64) won the six mile early in the Games, he became the first Canadian runner to win a major distance race at a Commonwealth or Olympic Games.
After his six-mile win, Kidd, who was aged 19 at the time, looked to be the only runner capable of beating the defending champion in the three mile.
‘‘Murray was my hero and I modelled myself on his tactics of kicking with an explosive burst a long way out to kill people off and build up a gap,'' Kidd explained to the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
‘‘But I knew it would be difficult because I had to use the tactic against the master of that tactic himself. The only way I could win was to surprise him. Unfortunately, he had the same idea about me.''
Kidd, the dean of Physical Education and Health at the University of Toronto, was in New Zealand to pay homage to Sir Murray Halberg at the Halberg Awards in Christchurch last Tuesday. He visited the University of Otago School of Physical Education during his stay in Dunedin.
Kidd recalled that he had spent the first 10 laps of the race trying to get away from Halberg.‘‘I would go to the front and he'd be there. I'd drift to the back and he'd be there and I'd go to the bunched up middle and he'd be there,'' Kidd said.
‘‘Every so often, his withered left arm would brush against me. ‘‘He'd say sorry and the race continued. He was right on my shoulder covering me like a blanket.
‘‘It was an amazing cat-and mouse race. It was psychological warfare.''
Kidd made what he hoped would be the decisive break with two and a-half laps left.
‘‘I was starting to panic,'' Kidd said. ‘‘I made the burst I knew I had to make, but I didn't have the element of surprise.''
When he made the break, Kidd thought he had broken away from Halberg.
‘‘I ran a lap but couldn't hear him. But just as I went around the bend, his hand brushed against my shoulder,'' Kidd said. ‘‘Someone told me later that Murray stretched out his arm to brush me.
‘‘My heart sunk and I stopped dead in my tracks. I was completely mesmerised. I'd made my burst but had been caught. I was completely numb.
‘‘The field came together like an accordion. We jogged down the straight together and at the bell we were still together.''
The field was still together at the turn but, with 330yds to go Halberg took off. The last lap was timed at 53 seconds - a remarkable time for a last lap of a major three-mile race almost half a century ago.
The bunch included the English pair of Bruce Tulloch and Derek Ibbotson and Australian Ron Clarke.
‘‘At that point, my competitive instincts responded and I started chasing,'' Kidd said. ‘‘I caught everyone but Murray and Ron Clarke to finish third.''
Canadian John Parnell won the mile at Auckland in 1950, but Kidd is the sole Canadian to win a Commonwealth Games or Olympic medal in the longer distances.
