2010 Inductee – Athlete

2010 Inductee – Athlete

Robert “Bobby” Lockett

Bobby Lockett is one of the greatest long distance runners ever to come out of the Bridgetown area. In 1962, Bobby Lockett started his racing career by breaking the Nova Scotia Native and Open Record in the 1 Mile with a time of 4:33.0, breaking the record set in 1961 by W. Beazley by a margin of 7.4 seconds.

At the 1963 Royal Canadian Legion Juvenile Track and Field Championships in Waterloo, Ontario, Bobby won the Second Heat of the 2 Mile Race. His time was 6/10ths of a second off the winning time in the First Heat, which had been won by Bobby’s teammate John McIsaac. At a National Championship, it was a historic Gold and Silver Medal finish by the two Bridgetown athletes.

Less than one month later, on September 18th, 1963, Bobby broke the Canadian Juvenile 2 Mile record formerly held by the legendary Olympian Bruce Kidd with a time of 9:36.7.

In 1962, and again in 1963, Bobby Lockett won the Nova Scotia Headmasters High School Cross Country Championship.

From 1961 to 1963, Bobby won many events at the Acadia Relays and at the Antigonish Highland Games, including the 800, 1 Mile, 2 Mile and the 4 x 440 Yard relay.

As a member of the 1962 B.R.H.S. Senior Boys Soccer Team, he won a Nova Scotia High School Headmasters Soccer Championship. Bobby was also a member of the 1963 Bridgetown Royal Canadian Legion team that had six athletes selected to compete at the Royal Canadian Legion Track and Field Championships in Waterloo, Ontario. That team is also being inducted into the Bridgetown Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.

In 1964, Bobby set two Nova Scotia Junior Records; in the 1 Mile with a time of 4:27.8 and in the 2 Mile with a time of 9:29.2.

In 1960, Bobby was named the Most Valuable Player on his Midget Hockey team. The award was presented to Bobby by the Montreal Canadiens legend, Maurice “The Rocket” Richard.

Bobby Lockett has remained a prolific long distance runner. He has run many, many races, including running the Marathon in a personal best time of 2:52.47. Bobby Lockett has qualified and raced in the Boston Marathon, the Johnny Miles Marathon and in the Nova Scotia and Montreal Marathons.

For many years Bobby kept logs of his running miles. Now at 125,000 miles, and still counting, Bobby Lockett has now run the circumference of Planet Earth at least five times.

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