Four minutes for the mile. The words still have a ring to them. It had been an obsession among middle-distance runners for years. The mile was first contested seriously in the 17th Century when professionals raced for wagers. There are stories of four minutes or faster having been run on public highways in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries.
A time of just under four and a half minutes was recorded as far back in 1861 by an Irishman named Heaviside. The 04:12.75 for the distance run by an English chemist’s assistant, Walter George, in 1886 was ruled out because he had competed for money. The first official world record holder was an Irish-American, T P Conneff, who ran 04:18.00. In 1923 the famous Finnish athlete Paavo Nurmi ran the distance in 04:10.40. Progress was slow but steady.
Mile Barrier Broken
Finally, the barrier was broken at Oxford that windy May afternoon sixty years ago. Roger Bannister, a 25 year student doctor had done what many believed was impossible…he had run a mile in 03:59.4.
See previous article: HERE
Irish Mile Barrier Broken
Within two years, on 1st June 1956 Ireland had its first member of the sub-four club. Ronnie Delaney, a student at the famous Villanova University in Pennsylvania, had finished his examinations and was keen for a race. At the advice of his coach, Jumbo Elliott, he had flown to California to run a mile. The organisers wanted a fast race and put in two pacemakers. Delaney stayed close to the front and coming off the last bend applied the famous kick that was to take him to Olympic gold in Melbourne later in the year. At the tape he had just a tenth of a second to spare over Denmark’s 1500 metres world record-holder Gunnar Nielsen. The time of 3:59.00 made Delaney the seventh man under four! Sixty years later over 40 other Irish men have achieved the feat.
Here is a great write up of Ronnie Delaney athletics career: HERE
Our newest athlete added to the list was Sean Tobin of Clonmel A.C who ran the mile in 03:59.91 on 15th Feb 2014. Sean was just 19 years of age.
(Updated 04.03.2014)
We have on our list two Kerry legends who have broken the 4min. mile barrier. First was Gerry Kiernan from Listowel who broke the mile back in 1976 at a time of 03:59.10. Then in 1989 we had Frank Conway from Dooks, just outside Glenbeigh, who smashed the 4min. with a time of 03:56.76. Frank spent his earl;y athletics career with Iveragh AC. Will we have another legend soon?
Article on Frank Conway: HERE
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| Gerry Kiernan |
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| Frank Conway |
Information below was taken from AAI athletics statistical records: HERE
| TIME | NAME | PLACE | DATE | |
| 1 | 03:49.8 | Ray Flynn | Oslo | 07-Jul-82 |
| 2 | 3:49.78i | Eamonn Coghlan | East Rutherford NJ | 27-Feb-83 |
| 3 | 03:50.6 | Mark Carroll | Oslo | 28-Jul-00 |
| 4 | 3:50.94i | Marcus O'Sullivan | East Rutherford NJ | 13-Feb-88 |
| 5 | 03:51.1 | Frank O'Mara | Roma | 10-Sep-86 |
| 6 | 3:52.10i | Ciarán Ó Lionáird | New York NY | 16-Feb-13 |
| 7 | 03:53.9 | Niall Bruton | Oslo | 05-Jul-96 |
| 8 | 03:54.5 | Dave Taylor | Cork | 13-Jul-83 |
| 9 | 03:54.6 | James Nolan | Rieti | 07-Sep-03 |
| 10 | 03:54.7 | Tom Moloney | Cork | 08-Jul-86 |
| 11 | 3:54.7h | John Hartnett | Eugene OR | 20-Jun-73 |
| 12 | 3:55.04i | Alistair Cragg | Fayetteville AR | 21-Jan-06 |
| 13 | 3:55.40i | Niall O'Shaughnessy | New York NY | 28-Jan-77 |
| 14 | 3:55.75i | David McCarthy | Boston MA | 28-Jan-12 |
| 15 | 03:55.8 | Paul Donovan | Cork | 02-Jul-84 |
| 16 | 03:56.2 | Paul Robinson | Cork | 02-Jul-13 |
| 17 | 03:56.4 | Enda Fitzpatrick | Cork | 09-Jul-85 |
| 18 | 3:56.78i | Frank Conway | Boston MA | 22-Jan-89 |
| 19 | 3:57.5h | Ron Delany | Dublin | 06-Aug-58 |
| 20 | 03:57.6 | Gareth Turnbull | Philadelphia PA | 27-Apr-02 |
| 21 | 03:58.1 | Ken Nason | Cork | 24-Jun-95 |
| 22 | 3:58.1h | Frank Murphy | Los Angeles CA | 07-Jun-69 |
| 23 | 3:58.15i | Gerry O'Reilly | Boston MA | 25-Jan-87 |
| 24 | 03:58.2 | Dave Campbell | Wanganui | 16-Feb-08 |
| 25 | 03:58.4 | Sean O'Neill | Cork | 07-Jul-87 |
| 26 | 03:58.5 | Eugene Curran | Cork | 08-Jul-86 |
| 27 | 03:58.7 | Desmond English | Cork | 25-Apr-94 |
| 28 | 03:58.9 | Eoin Everard | Dublin | 17-Jul-13 |
| 29 | 03:59.0 | Andrew Walker | San Francisco CA | 29-Oct-00 |
| 30 | 03:59.0 | Mark Christie | London | 06-Aug-05 |
| 31 | 03:59.1 | Gerry Kiernan | London | 19-Jun-76 |
| 32 | 03:59.2 | Shane Healy | Cork | 25-Jun-94 |
| 33 | 3:59.32i | John Coghlan | Boston MA | 28-Jan-12 |
| 34 | 3:59.4hi | Kieran Stack | Notre Dame IN | 06-Feb-88 |
| 35 | 03:59.5 | James McIlroy | Solihull | 05-Sep-98 |
| 36 | 03:59.5 | Gary Murray | London | 06-Aug-05 |
| 37 | 03:59.8 | Basil Clifford | London | 03-Aug-64 |
| 38 | 03:59.8 | Seamus McCann | Cork | 05-Jul-88 |
| 39 | 3:59.91+ | Brian Treacy | London | 07-Aug-99 |
| 40 | 3:59.91i | Seán Tobin | Seattle WA | 15-Feb-14 |
( i = Indoors )
Looking at the above times we can see that the 4min. mile barrier was broken 14 times in the 1980's. The next highest decade is in the 2000's where we had 8 records. Will this be improved in our current decade. All signs show that it will. So far with just over 3 yrs into it we have 6 athletes to break the 4min. mark. If this continues we should reach approx. 18 records. This would be some achievement.
Looking at the above times we can see that the 4min. mile barrier was broken 14 times in the 1980's. The next highest decade is in the 2000's where we had 8 records. Will this be improved in our current decade. All signs show that it will. So far with just over 3 yrs into it we have 6 athletes to break the 4min. mark. If this continues we should reach approx. 18 records. This would be some achievement.
In our next article we will look at our Irish Women.