Roger Bannister is smiling.
I’m so old that the Four Minute Mile was the Holy Grail when I was a kid. I was born in 1951, so I was actually too young to remember, but I do remember that being the goal for serious runners in the 50s and early 60s.
Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile on May 6, 1954, running 3:59.4 at Iffley Road track in Oxford, England.
That’s really fast
"Team"? "Behind the scenes"? Don't you just put on your gym shorts, tie up your shoes and hit the pavement?
Averaged 100 yards every 13.92 seconds
That record may never be broken.
If not, it is really close.
... only to have to wait in line at the Walmart check out counter.
I don’t think I could do that on a bicycle.
Sheesh, just leave a little earlier and ya don’t have to rush
Hell, black guys running from cops beat that all the time.
People forget history!
Last I remember...5 minutes was great...but I’m 82..
That is an amazing time.
What’s the trans record?
Great there were 60,000 people there. I wonder what kind of crowds in U.S. these days? ESPN doesn’t even have a track and field category even under college sports and no article on this on home page. NCAA page I brought up doesn’t even have 2026 championship listed, 2025, no mile event apparently
I was around in May 1954 (10 years old) when Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile barrier. It was a big deal ... breaking news everywhere.
Yes, I know he probably wasn't on 'Roids but I've been following pro cycling long enough to know they're all -- ALL OF 'EM -- on something. EPO, peptides, ketones, ... something. It's infiltrated every sport in existence (even badminton!!) because they've created masking agents, adulterants and administration techniques to thwart the anti-PEDs testing. So they dope with impugnity.
The saying going around is, 'you can't fail the drug test unless you first fail the IQ test.'
And the proof that he's doped is ... HE WON. As Lance Pharmstrong showed us, you can't beat the dopers if you're not yourself doped.
How often are sanctioned mile races run anymore? Everywhere I see it is meters, meters, meters. The current 1500 meter record of 3:26 would be 3:41 for a mile if you could keep the same pace to get the extra 110 meters.
Must have a heart like a racehorse - and theirs can get up to 240 BPM...from a resting beat of around 25 BPM.
The best humans can reach close to 200 BPM and drop to between 35 and 40 BPM at rest - when I was in my prime, I never checked my max, but my resting rate was between 45-52 BPM.