Fifty years on
The celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the first sub-four minute mile took place last Thursday at the same Iffley Road track on which Roger Bannister ran the distance in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds, half a century ago.
After press conferences at Pembroke College, where Sir Roger was master from 1985 to 1993, the action moved to Iffley. The meeting there closely resembled that of 1954, when the Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) took on a team from the University.
Oxford were rather less successful in the meeting than they had been 50 years ago: their only event winner was Finlay Wright, who won a fast 200 metres race in 22.17.
The day was all about commemorating the events of 6th May 1954. There were seven mile races in total, ending with the men's elite mile. These athletes set off at 6pm to exactly recreate the race that Sir Roger won.
The organisers had attracted the best milers in Britain as well as runners from as far afield as the USA and Australia. They were joined by Oxford University Athletics Club President Fraser Thompson and team-mates Andrew Hennessy and Nick Talbot.
The race went off quickly as the pacemakers pulled the runners round in less than a minute for the first 440 yards.
After sitting back for two laps, three men took the race on at the halfway stage and pulled away from the pack. They were John Mayock, Britain's leading miler, Mo Farah, the young pretender to his crown, and Australian Craig Mottram.
The bell for the final lap was rung by Sir Roger Bannister using the same bell as had been used 50 years ago; this was the signal for Mottram to take the race on and he pulled away from Mayock to win in 3:56.64, a track record. Farah came in second, with a subdued Mayock third. Hennessy, Thompson and Talbot all put in excellent performances in a very strong field to come home in fifth, seventh and ninth respectively.
At the presentation, Sir Roger called the day a "celebration of British miling", and although the commemorative mile was won by an Australian there were many luminaries present, such as Sir Chris Chataway, who helped Sir Roger break the record as his pacemaker, and Lord Sebastian Coe, the first man ever to go under 3:50.
The whole event at Iffley was a very special day for all those involved. Although most of the races were won by outside competitors, all of those representing Oxford University acquitted themselves well against some of the best athletes in the country.
Essentially, however, the day was to mark the anniversary of what has been described as one of the greatest sporting moments in history.
13th May 2004