Dorothy Lidstone was given her first bow by her mother in 1961, when she was 22. Soon she was practicing 30 hours a week on her own. Before long, this dedication and perseverance were rewarded. In 1969, as the Canadian women's champion, Lidstone travelled to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to compete in the World Archery Championship. It was perhaps the toughest women's archery competition to date as 1969 was the first year that archers from the Soviet bloc countries competed. Shooting at targets from distances of 30, 50, 60,and 70m, the top ten women in the competition that year bettered the existing world record. Lidstone, however, bettered them all. Breaking the world record (set in 1963) by over 100 points with a score of 2,361 points out of a possible 2,800 points, she finished ten points ahead of the second-place competitor from the U.S. and became the first Canadian to win the World Archery Championship. Her success also led the Canadian women to a second-place finish in the team competition. Lidstone defended her Canadian championship in 1970 and 1971 and won three B.C. provincial (1966, 1973, 1975) and four Pacific Northwest titles. She also represented Canada at the 1965 and 1971 world championships, finishing 15th in 1971. However, a conflict between her job in a bakery at a Vancouver department store and the requirement to attend a mandatory pre-Olympic training camp prevented her from representing Canada at the 1972 Games in Munich. She retired from competition in 1975. The Federation of Canadian Archers had named their female athlete-of-the-year award in Lidstone's honour.