On the 6th May 1954 an English man by the name of Robert Bannister was the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes, setting a new world record at 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of this remarkable milestone in world athletics, Farranfore Maine Valley A.C are organising The Mile Dash Series. It is planned that the first race will be on Tuesday Evening the 6th May 2014, which is exactly 60 years to the day of Sir Robert Bannister's record achievement.
Some of us grew up in an era where "the mile" was a prestigious event and we felt like it would be fun to have a family oriented event focusing on the mile. The mile is a good mix of endurance and speed therefore a fun race for old and young. We hope it will encourage long term involvement in fitness based activities.
As our event grows our mission is to see people improve year after year by asking them "How fast did you run the mile at The Mile Dash Series?"
For those of you who were born in the metric era: 1 Mile = 1.60934KM
We are in early preparation of this event, so when all arrangements are finalised we will have another post on this event.
Below is an article from The Guardian newspaper which details that famous mile race back in 1954.
From the Guardian archive, 7 May 1954:
Bannister triumphs with sub-four minute mile
Video of race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTp9ZgjZkNA
Below is an article from The Guardian newspaper which details that famous mile race back in 1954.
From the Guardian archive, 7 May 1954:
Bannister triumphs with sub-four minute mile
Roger Bannister becomes the
first person to run a mile in under four minutes, setting the world record at 3
minutes 59.4 seconds
Roger Bannister, aged 25, today
became the first man to run a mile in less than four minutes. His time at the
Iffley Road track, Oxford, in the annual match between the Amateur Athletic
Association and Oxford University, was 3min. 59.4sec.
Bannister, a former president
of the Oxford club and now a medical student nearing qualification, ran as
first string for the visiting side against his old university. The race was carefully
planned and Bannister received considerable assistance by the intelligent
pace-making of C.W. Brasher, a former Cambridge runner, who led the field
through the first quarter mile in 57.3sec. and reached the half-mile in 1min.
58sec. with Bannister three yards in the rear.
From there C.J. Chataway took
up the lead, and reached the three-quarter mile mark in 3min. 0.4sec., with
Bannister at 3min. 0.7sec. Bannister took the lead with some 350 yards to go,
passed one unofficial timekeeper at the 1,500-metre mark in 3min. 43sec.,
equalling the world's record for that distance, and thereafter, throwing in all
his reserves, he broke the tape in 3min. 59.4sec.
The afternoon had been squally,
but just before the race, which started at 6 p.m., the weather relented
slightly. Nonetheless, conditions were far from ideal. After the news that a
world's record had been broken, and a great athletic landmark passed, there was
pandemonium among the spectators.
The last Englishman to hold the
world record for the mile was Sidney Wooderson, with a time of 4min. 6.4sec.
set in London in 1937. Since then there have been five improvements by the two
Swedish athletes Gunder Haegg and Arne Andersson, with Haegg holding the
current official world record of 4min. 1.4sec.
Bannister,
who was running his
first race this season, thus beats the strong challenge for the four-minute
mile from the Australian, John Landy, now in Scandinavia for the purpose, and
the American, Wesley Santee.
MILE RECORD TABLE 1865 - 1999
