Victoria’s Debbie Scott (Bowker), competed at an international level for Canada in a career that spanned over 20 years. In total she won 26 Canadian titles, set Canadian records over a range of five distances. She competed in three Summer Olympic Games, four Commonwealth Games, one Pan-American Games and two IAAF World Track and Field Championships.
She won the famous New York Mile in 1982, medaled in the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games winning silver in both the 1500m and 3000m distances. She also won a medal in the Pan Am Games and finished top-10 at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games in the 1500m event.
In cross-country, she had a top-eight (1981) and two top-13 finishes at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.
Personal Bests:
1500m - 4:05.07
Mile - 4:33.02
2000m - 5:39.96
2000m ind. - 5:59.9h
3000m - 8:43.81
3000m ind. - 9:04.99
Christopher Kelsall: How did you find running? At what age did you decide that this is the sport you’re going to compete seriously in?
Debbie Scott: My first experience with running was in grade seven, elementary school, when I joined a 50 mile club. I very much enjoyed the act of running and although I did not really carry on with the sport of running until my high school years, I certainly developed an intrinsic love of the activity. In high school I was a multi-sport athlete and participated in field hockey and volleyball. Consequently, I signed up for the athletic PE block, where you could train for your sport in class. In that class, we did a significant amount of fitness and through the running activities I was identified and recruited for the cross-country team.
