12. Four Minute Mile

Roger Bannister the first man to run under the Four Minute Mile in 3:59.4.
He almost didn’t run that day due to the weather conditions – well high winds.
As it was – before the commercialisation of sport – he didn’t train much, snatching runs in his lunch breaks.

Remarkably he had a bad month training previous to the record breaking run. So he decided that he should go on a three day hike, to regain his mojo. Not a good idea: but it allowed him a break from the burden of breaking the record.
Having run the 3:59.4 in Oxford the burden was lifted from him. But the record didn’t stand for long.

Six weeks later the Australian John Landy beat his record by a second. At a rematch in Vancouver named the Miracle Mile, Bannister beat Landy by 15 yards.

This was the era of sport was not professionalised. Runing was an amateur sport with little sponsorship. Bannister squeezed running into his career as a neurologist. Apparently he was more proud of his career than his running.
Roger Bannister 1929-2018     Four Minute Mile 

Copyright Adrian Scott North London Counsellor Blog 2018
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Disclaimer: This weblog is the view of the writer and for general information only
This article is designed to provoke argument and critique

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