The Four Minute Mile

Bannister's plaque to commemorate his world record at Iffley Road Track

The Feat

On the 6th of May, 1954, Roger Bannister became the first man to run a mile in less than four minutes.

It wasn’t supposed to happen on 6 May, 1954. Persistent gusts of wind had Sir Roger Bannister reconsidering whether he should attempt a world record or not. Having travelled from work in London for the evening race, it seemed unwise for Bannister to attack the record when he arrived in hopeless conditions at the Iffley Road track in Oxford, where a crowd of sports writers and photographers had gathered with anticipation to potentially witness a British athlete’s greatest ever feat.

As Bannister warmed up, he was a bag of nerves. He had noticed a flag waving violently in the wind on the steeple of St John’s Church, which overlooks the track he was set to run on. This left Bannister with a tough choice. "The decision was mine alone, no one could persuade me," he recalled in 3:59.4, a book by John Bryant.

Staring at the St George’s flag – which ended up being the symbolic green light for Bannister, as he realised the cross fluttered more gently when he approached the start line in front of around 3,000 spectators – the 25-year-old had no idea what the next three minutes and 59.4 seconds would do for his beloved Oxford and British sport.

Iffley Road Track, where Bannister set the iconic world record

Lap one took 57.5 seconds, and 1:58.2 had surpassed at the halfway point. Bannister had then run three laps in 3:0.5, leaving him 59.5 seconds to run the final lap. And so he did. 58.9 seconds later and Bannister had done it, clocking a 3:59.4 mile and cementing his name in the history books of sport, forever.

The Aberdeen Evening Express said: "Athletes the world over are saluting this great British performance", in an article published the following day. The Daily Express's front-page reported Bannister "ran straight into the almanacs of glory" and the fact that "as he broke the tape he fell headlong into waiting arms."

'The Sir Roger Bannister Collection' in Pembroke College, Oxford.

How the Daily Express reported the four-minute mile

Bannister became the first man in the world to run a mile in less than four minutes that day and in doing so he set a precedent for inclusivity in sport and for those who would succeed him.

Now, on the 70th anniversary of the iconic British run, Thurstan Bannister, Roger’s youngest son, says the Bannister Community Mile will reignite the inspiration his late father once provided.

“Having an opportunity, an entry point into running the relatively short distance of a mile and having anybody from the age of six onwards, able to do it at any speed – that is the essence of participation, the exact kind of opportunity my father wanted people to have,” he said, rolling back the years to when he would run with his father through Kensington Gardens and Richmond Park.

Bannister’s run – once deemed as the "greatest sporting feat in the last 100 years" by former Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe – had opened up endless boundaries for runners around the world; only six weeks later, Australian runner John Landy clocked a quicker time by 1.5 seconds.

By the end of 1954, Bannister had retired from competitive running to embark on a career as a medical scientist and consultant neurologist. This, of course, came after he added further accolades: winning the ‘Miracle Mile’ at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games (where Bannister finally met Landy in front of 35,000 fans, marking the first time the four-minute mile had been broken by two men in the same race), and winning the 1500m at the European Championships.

Bannister continued to achieve incredible things after his retirement, especially in the world of academia, where he helped to set up anti-doping measures and became the first chair of what would become Sport England.

“I always felt proud of my father and he was so gracious in meeting and talking with people and so patient too – which was a lovely thing to observe,” Thurstan added.

An iconic moment

“There is no moment as iconic in Oxford’s sporting history as the 6th of May 1954, and to have had that world record achieved here on the Iffley Road track is something that really distinguishes Oxford from many parts of the world,” said Alex Betts, the chair of Oxford University's Sport Strategy Committee.

“That balance of being a scholar-athlete, combining academic excellence with sporting greatness, is what he symbolises, and it represents something all of us who love sport in the university can aspire to,” he added.

“The record will live long in the memory and the history books of athletics and distance running. To be able to celebrate that this year is really important to us, but also to the wider community in Oxford, across Oxfordshire and the world, who will have their eyes on Oxford as we approach the event.”

Betts is a professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs

Formerly known as the Iffley Festival of Miles, five students at Oxford have been planning the track meet for over a year, with the city centre having to be closed for a mile down the high street. The event also attracted sponsorships from Nike, Sports Shoes, and legal firm Blake Morgan.

The Bannister Community Mile kick-started proceedings on Bank Holiday Monday, with close to 1,500 participants running down Oxford's High Street before finishing at the Iffley Road Track. Steve Cram, former world champion and mile world record holder, started the run and he was joined by the current world record holder Hicham El-Guerrouj, as well as past world record holders.

Then, in the afternoon, the Bannister Track Miles took place at Iffley Road, where almost 3,000 spectators – the same number when Bannister broke the world record in 1954 – gathered to witness a series of mile races, before the elite race's began at 6pm, exactly 70 years on from the record.

Speeches were made from the Bannister family and Sylvia Barlag, a representative from World Athletics on behalf of Seb Coe, who could not attend the event.

"As well as elite-level competition, the anniversary events introduced running to many new people, especially children, hundreds of whom participated in the Community Mile," said Jared Martin, Club Captain of Oxford University Cross Country Club.

"They also helped raise awareness of Bannister’s achievement and of the University of Oxford’s commitment to sporting excellence and community engagement to both local and national audiences.

"The track was filled to capacity throughout the afternoon and opened up to the wider community, who were able to enjoy the attractions of the races and inspiring displays of athletic endeavour.

"It demonstrated the great the potential of this sports facility, which will be further increased this summer with a state-of-the-art track renovation."

Betts discussed this state-of-the-art track renovation and Oxford University's £1million investment.

The original stopwatch used to time Bannister's sub-four-minute mile in 1954

Tom Barret, 23, and Thomas Renshaw, 25, have spearheaded the organisation side of the event alongside their studies as PhD students at Oxford University.

The pair have elevated student-organised events to a new level, and Barret says that this year has required a new level of commitment and dedication.

“The community mile is a nice excuse to host a high-level athletics event while integrating the community for a mass participation race, and the way it’s expanded this year has turned into everything we dreamed it would be,” he said.

“We initially started it last summer by presenting the idea of what we wanted to do – a massive celebration of the anniversary with a community race somewhere in Oxford – to the university.

“It took a while to convince people that it was possible and something that was worth their time. But with the help of key individuals like the Bannister family and the county council, we began to connect all the right people and get them in a room to organise this properly.”

This year’s event included a special trial race of a mile steeplechase – a request specifically made by World Athletics as they explore new distances that could be introduced into athletics. Winners of all races received their medals on the track where Bannister was once greeted in 1954.

“If we can inspire people to come down and run, and then continue to run and come back year after year, then that will absolutely be a success,” Renshaw added.

The Feat

On the 6th of May, 1954, Roger Bannister became the first man to run a mile in less than four minutes.

Image captions

An iconic moment