For the Love of Running by Paul Owen

Author:Paul Owen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Summersdale Publishers Ltd
Published: 2017-04-22T00:00:00+00:00

THE RACE

Bannister was an Oxford medical student and part-time athlete, who adopted a professional approach to the mile attempt following his failure to win a medal at the previous Olympic Games. Pacers were strictly not allowed in the 1950s, which is why his running-mates on the day, Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher, had to be seen to be trying to run the race as well as they could. The reality is that the three friends had trained meticulously together working out the pace needed for each lap. The race was broadcast live on BBC radio and commentated by the 1924 Olympic medallist Harold Abrahams. The organised and rehearsed race plan came together as they hit each lap target, until Bannister crossed the line and ran into the history books. ‘In the last 50 yards my body had long since exhausted its energy but it went on running just the same,’ said Bannister, who admitted that it was Chataway and Brasher who got him there.

OH SO CLOSE

Wes Santee ran 4:01.4 just 23 days after Bannister’s record, equalling Hägg’s 1945 world record; shortly afterwards in another race he recorded a time of 4:00.6. On 21 June 1954, John Landy became ‘the Buzz Aldrin and Sherpa Tenzing of the athletics world’, recording a mile time in 3:57.9 (rounded up to 3:58), shattering Bannister’s record that had lasted a mere 46 days.

FASCINATING FACT

In the ‘Race of the Century’ at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, on 7 August 1954, Bannister and Landy became the first men in history to record a time lower than four minutes in the same race; Bannister edged it in 3:58.8 with Landy finishing in 3:59.6.

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