Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Milers by Cordner Nelson Biography of Roger Bannister. Roger Bannister (born 1929) was the first person ever to run a mile in under four minutes. "I just ran anywhere and everywhere-never because it was an end in itself, but because it was easier for me to run than to walk," Roger Bannister said of his childhood, according to Cordner Nelson and Roberto Quercetani in The Milers. When he was 12, 13, and 14, he won his school's cross-country run three years in a row. At the age of 16, he decided to become a runner. However, when his studies in medicine began at Oxford University in the fall of 1946, he had never run on a track or worn spiked running shoes. Bannister's only training that first winter at the university was a weekly workout and a seven-and-a-half-mile cross-country race. However, he was so immensely talented that even on this meager schedule, he ran a mile in 4:30.8 in March of 1947; by June of that year he had decreased his time to 4:24.6. In 1948, Bannister was selected as a "possible" runner for the Olympic team, but he felt that he was not yet ready to compete at the Olympic level. "Restless and Anxious to Compete" In June of 1948 Bannister ran in his first major race, the Kinniard Cup. He came in fourth with a time of 4:18.7. In the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) race he came in fifth with 4:17.2. That year, the Olympics were being held in London, and he watched them with great interest. When Bannister saw the athletes compete, he felt inspired to become a great runner like them. According to Cordner and Quercetani, he decided "New targets had to be set and more vigorous training programs prepared. I was restless and anxious to compete. There were four years to wait before my chance would come at Helsinki [Olympics] in 1952." In June of 1949, Bannister ran the 880 in 1:52.7, and traveled to the United States to compete in the mile, which he won with times of 4:11.1 and 4:11.9. He took six weeks off from training, but came in third with a time of 4:14.2. Bannister began using a new training method called Fartlek, in which runners alternate bursts of speed with steady running, and rapidly improved. On July 1 of 1950, he ran a mile in 4:13, but in the last lap his time was 57.5. This was the first sign of his impressive "kick"-a burst of speed in the last quarter of a race. At the Penn Relays in April of 1951, he began slowly, trailing the other runners, but took the lead after two and a half laps, running the last lap in an amazing 56.7, with a total time of 4:08.3. He later said, according to Cordner and Quercetani, "I knew from my fast finish that I was now capable of a time near 4 minutes five seconds." Bannister's philosophy of training was to train lightly and stay fresh. For the rest of that spring he felt over-trained and somewhat burned-out. Nevertheless, in July, he ran 4:07.8, a record for the AAA championships. After this, feeling utterly exhausted, he took training for five weeks, then raced again, but was beaten by a Yugoslavian runner. 1952 Olympic Games. Bannister ran in the 1500 meters at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. He shared a room with his friends from Oxford: Chris Chataway, Nick Stacey, and Alan Dick. He wrote in The Four Minute Mile that the room they shared must have been the messiest one in the whole Olympic Village, and that he and his friends spent most of their time simply lying on their unmade beds, reading, and talking. "It was not that we lacked the energy to make our beds or tidy the room," he wrote. "We simply existed in a state of complete suspension, in which nothing seemed important until our races were over. We were thinking all the time about the precious fractions of seconds that would make us champions or failures." In the semifinals of the 1500 meters, Bannister came in fifth, and was disappointed with his performance. He wrote, "The following night was one of the most unpleasant I have ever spent. My legs ached and I was unable to sleep. I felt I hated running." The next day, before the final, Bannister was pale and weak with anxiety. From the start, he ran "sensibly," and was in second place before the final curve. "This was the crucial moment," he wrote, "for which I had waited so long. But my legs were aching, and I had no strength left to force them faster." Sickened, he watched as others passed him, and came in fourth. Later, however, he was proud of his result and glad that he had learned that "the important thing was not the winning but the taking part-not the conquering but the fighting well." Attempted to Break Four-Minute Barrier. Bannister spent two months after the Olympics deciding whether he wanted to keep running. He eventually decided to continue, but with a new goal: to run the mile in under four minutes. This feat had never been accomplished by any runner. He trained for half an hour a day, running intense speed workouts. Bannister realized that in order to meet his goal, he would have to make sure that he was keeping up a hard pace throughout the race. He arranged for another runner, Chris Chataway, to keep track of his timing and be his pacer. At a meet at Oxford, paced by Chataway, he ran the mile in 4:03.6, which made him certain that he could break the four-minute barrier. After a brief period of rest following an injury, he began running again. On June 27, 1953, paced by his friends Chris Brasher and Don Macmillan, he ran 4:02. Despite the fact that this time was faster than any British miler's, the authorities would not allow it into the record books because the use of pacers was frowned on: runners were expected to win without such aid. According to Nelson and Quercetani, Bannister later said, "My feeling as I look back is one of great relief that I did not run a four-minute mile under such artificial circumstances." Throughout 1953, however, he remained undefeated. The Moment of a Lifetime. In 1954, Bannister decided to make another attempt to break the four-minute barrier. He trained more intensely, and reached a plateau at which, no matter how much he trained, he couldn't improve his time. Frustrated, he took time off and went mountain climbing with Chris Brasher for three days. When he came back, he beat his time by two seconds. Bannister planned to make the sub-four-minute attempt on the Iffey Road track at Oxford during an AAA event on May 6. He rested for five days before the event. "I had reached my peak physically and psychologically," he later said, according to Nelson and Quercetani. "There would never be another day like it." On May 6, he spent the morning at St. Mary's Hospital, where he worked as part of his medical studies, then took the train to Oxford. He was concerned about the weather: a strong wind had come up, and it could affect his time. At 5:15 in the evening, it began to rain lightly. By race time, the wind was about 15 miles per hour and Bannister decided to run. After 220 yards, he felt as if the race was effortless, as if he were flying. When the bell rang, marking the last lap, Bannister's time was 3.07. The crowd was roaring and he knew he would have to run the last lap in 59 seconds. Chataway led, then Bannister sped past him at the beginning of the final straightaway, with only 300 yards to go. In his book First Four Minutes, quoted by David Levinson and Karen Christensen, he later wrote, "I felt that the moment of a lifetime had come. There was no pain, only a great utility of movement and aim. The world seemed to stand still or did not exist, the only reality was the next two hundred yards of track under my feet." Although he was exhausted, Bannister kept running, forced on by an immense effort of will and aided by his years of training. When he was only five yards from completing the race, the tape marking the end of the race seemed to be moving farther away from him. He wrote, "My effort was all over and I collapsed almost unconscious. The stop-watches held the answer, the announcement came-'Result of the one mile time, 3 minutes'- the rest was lost in the roar of excitement." His time was 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. Later Bannister wrote, according to Nelson and Quercetani, "I felt suddenly and gloriously free of the burden of athletic ambition that I had been carrying for years. No words could be invented for such supreme happiness, eclipsing all other feelings. I thought at that moment I could never again reach such a climax of single-mindedness." "The Mile of the Century" Track fans still talk about the "Bannister-Landy 1-Mile Duel," which was the number one choice for "Six Most Dramatic Events in Sports History," in the Book of Lists, according to David Levinson and Karen Christensen. The event was known as "The Mile of the Century" at the time, and took place at the Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada in 1954, where fans anxiously awaited the contest between the two best milers in the world. Bannister was the first person to break the four-minute mile. John Landy of Australia, was the only other runner to have completed a mile in under four minutes; he held the world record. Landy was in front from the start. Bannister was in third, then moved up to second. He had planned to run easily through the third lap, but became nervous when Landy stayed in front, so he began speeding up at the halfway point. Nelson and Quercetani wrote, "With great poise, he spread his effort evenly over the entire third lap. In the middle of the backstretch he had cut Landy's frightening lead in half. As they reached the bell he had closed the gap." When the bell rang to mark the last lap, Landy was in the lead, with Bannister right behind him. When Landy turned to see where his opponent was, Bannister passed him. He poured on his powerful "kick," and won the race in 3:58.8, against Landy's 3:59.6. The moment when Bannister passed Landy is commemorated by a statue of both men outside the Empire Stadium in Vancouver, marking the "Miracle Mile Games." Bannister later wrote in Four Minute Mile, "[Running] gives a man or woman the chance to bring out power that might otherwise remain locked away inside. The urge to struggle lies latent in everyone. The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable." The Milers by Cordner Nelson ISBN 13: 9780911521153. Try adding this search to your want list. Millions of books are added to our site everyday and when we find one that matches your search, we'll send you an e-mail. Best of all, it's free. Are you a frequent reader or book collector? Join the Bibliophile's Club and save 10% on every purchase, every day — up to $25 savings per order! Social Responsibility. Did you know that since 2004, Biblio has used its profits to build 16 public libraries in rural villages of South America? Cordner Nelson (Nelson, Cordner) More editions of Careers in Pro Sports (Career Resource Library): Careers in Pro Sports (Career Resource Library): ISBN 9780823914562 (978-0-8239-1456-2) Rosen Pub Group, 1992 Careers in Pro Sports (Career Resource Library): ISBN 9780823921904 (978-0-8239-2190-4) Rosen Pub Group, 1989 Careers in Pro Sports (Career Resource Library): ISBN 9780823928965 (978-0-8239-2896-5) Rosen Pub Group, 1999. More editions of Excelling in Sports: How to Train: More editions of The Milers: More editions of Runners and races;: 1500 m./mile: More editions of Track and field;: The great ones: More editions of Tracks Greatest Champions: French. More editions of Courir - NE (French Edition): Founded in 1997, BookFinder.com has become a leading book price comparison site: Find and compare hundreds of millions of new books, used books, rare books and out of print books from over 100,000 booksellers and 60+ websites worldwide. Cordner Nelson, Founding Editor of Track & Field News, Dies at 91. Cordner Nelson, who drew on his youthful fascination with Olympic athletes to create, with his brother, Track & Field News in 1948 and helped turn it into the sport’s premier monthly magazine, died on Monday at his home in Carmel, Calif. He was 91. The cause was T-cell lymphoma, his daughter Rebecca said. Mr. Nelson became interested in the sport not as an athlete but as a teenage spectator, when his father took him and his younger brother, Bert, to track and field events at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Sixteen years later, the brothers began publishing Track & Field News. Cordner, the founding editor, gathered track-meet results and wrote stories in addition to editing. Bert handled the business side. Covering the sport for more than a half-century, Mr. Nelson, a tall and dignified presence, attended 15 Olympics and wrote several books, including a biography of the runner Jim Ryun. He originated the magazine’s now-authoritative annual world rankings, as determined by an international panel. Today, Track & Field News bills itself “the Bible of the Sport,” but it struggled at first. Two months after it began, the brothers shipped 2,000 copies to the Drake Relays in Des Moines, where they were given away in the hope of landing a bonanza of subscriptions. The effort produced two, at $2 a year. Recalling the magazine’s rocky early days, Cordner Nelson said in 1998, “Even after deciding to do it, we didn’t know how to do it.” They looked to track aficionados for help. A coach told them about Don Potts, at 26 a full professor of mathematics at Northwestern University. Mr. Potts told them about a young Italian sports journalist, Roberto Quercetani. The two went on to contribute news, results and perspective to the magazine for the next 50 years or more. Mr. Nelson himself became a pioneering writer about weight training and interval training, which involves bursts of high-intensity activity like running or rowing alternating with periods of rest or low activity. He edited the magazine through 1969, remaining as a writer afterward. His special interest in the mile led him to write “The Jim Ryun Story” (1967), “The Milers” (1985) and other books. Cordner Bruce Nelson was born Aug. 18, 1918, in San Diego and grew up in Riverside, Calif. He graduated from the College of the Pacific (now part of the University of the Pacific) in 1940. After college, he managed his family’s farm near Stockton, Calif., and served in the Army from 1941- 45. He was elected to the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1988. In addition to his daughter Rebecca, he is survived by two other daughters, Elizabeth Nelson and Dr. Nancy Nelson, all of California; three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. His wife, Mary, died in 1999, and his brother, Bert, in 1994. Glenn Cunningham. Glenn Cunningham (1909-1988), the "Kansas Ironman," was the world-record-holder in the mile race from 1934 until 1937. He was a member of the 1932 and 1936 U.S. Olympic teams. Glenn Cunningham was born in Atlanta, Kansas on August 4, 1909. His father, Clint Cunningham, was a water-well driller who also did odd jobs. In February of 1916, Cunningham and his older brother Floyd were badly burned in an accidental fire in their schoolhouse. Floyd died from the burns, and doctors thought that Cunningham's legs were so badly burned that they would have to be amputated. However, he eventually recovered after a long battle. Cunningham regained his strength by running. By the time he was 12, he had beaten all the local high school runners. His legs remained deeply scarred, however. Throughout his life, he would have to massage them and spend time doing long warm-up exercises in order to maintain circulation. In addition, his injuries meant that he could never run smoothly or efficiently; he compensated with endurance and strength. It is interesting to speculate on how great he might have been if he had never been injured. According to Cordner Nelson and Roberto Quercetani in The Milers, "The middle 1930s may well be the most exciting short period in the history of the 1500 and mile. It was a time of world records and surprises, a time of great improvement and uneasy uncertainty for individuals." No runner had yet broken the 4-minute barrier in the mile, but some, including Cunningham, came close. Frank B. Bowles wrote in the Biographical Dictionary of American Sports that Cunningham "may have run a sub-4 minute mile in high school, but this feat has never been authenticated." Cunningham attended the University of Kansas, where he ran for the track team and won his first big race, the 1932 NCAA 1500 meters. That summer, he was selected for the U.S. Olympic track team. At the 1932 Olympics, held in Los Angeles, he came in fourth in the 1500 meter race. The Kansas Ironman. In 1933, Cunningham graduated from the University with the highest academic record in his class. That same year, he won the AAU 800 meters with a time of 1:51.8, as well as the 1500 meters with a time of 3:52.3. In addition he won the NCAA mile for the second time, with a time of 4:9.8. Overall, he ran 20 races in Europe during that summer, as well as maintaining a busy indoor season and a hard outdoor season. That year, the first year he was called "Ironman," he was awarded the Sullivan Memorial Trophy, which was given annually to the most outstanding amateur athlete. Cunningham went on to graduate school at the University of Kansas, then earned a master's degree from the University of Iowa in 1936, and a Ph.D. in physical education from New York University in 1940. In 1934, public interest in the mile race was at an all-time high. Cunningham began a tough competition in the mile against Bill Bonthron of Princeton. According to Nelson and Quercetani, "Madison Square Garden had to turn away thousands of people who wanted to see [Cunningham and Bonthron]. Their exploits made headlines throughout the country." The two ran some very close indoor races, tying each other in setting a new indoor record of 3:52.2 in the 1500 meters, then were pitted against each other in the mile on June 16 at the first Princeton Invitational Games. This event consisted of only four races, which began at five in the evening, after the Yale-Princeton baseball game. Only three runners were slated to run in the mile: Bill Bonthron, Glenn Cunningham, and Gene Venzki; most of the crowd of 25,000 spectators expected Bonthron to win by a large margin. For the first lap, Venzke was in the lead, with Cunningham closely following. After another half-lap, Cunningham passed him and was in the lead. Bonthron moved in close behind Cunningham, holding steady and seemingly ready to speed past him at the end of the race. In the third lap, however, Cunningham put on a burst of speed. Nelson and Quercetani wrote, "His scarred legs churned wildly, and he looked as if he had started the last lap. Around the turn he opened up an alarming gap of ten yards over Bonthron." By the time he reached the backstretch, he was 20 yards in front of Bonthron, and Venzke was far behind. The crowd forgot about cheering for Bonthron, the home favorite, and switched to yelling for Cunningham, trying at the same time to figure out just how fast he was running. On the home-stretch, he was 40 yards ahead of Bonthron and driving for the record. He tore through the tape with a time of 4:06.7, a new world record. He kept running for a 30-yard cool-down, then jogged back to the finish line, where Bonthron congratulated him. His new strategy of running the second half of the race faster than the first half had paid off. His lap times were 61.8, 64,0, 61,8, and 59.1. Later that summer, however, at the NCAA championships in Los Angeles, Bonthron was ready for this tactic. When Cunningham speeded up after two laps, Bonthron speeded up with him, and so did Venzke. Although Venzke couldn't keep up, Bonthron could, and did. Cunningham was unable to get away from Bonthron, and according to Nelson and Quercetani, "Bonthron exploded with an un-beatable kick which shot him five yards past Cunningham in the space of about 30 yards." Bonthron also beat Cunningham on June 30, in Milwaukee; despite the fact that Cunningham had run the 1500 in 3:48.9, a time that would have set a new world record, Bonthron had run it even faster, in 3:48.8. According to Nelson and Quercetani, Cunningham said, "It's a strange feeling to break a world's record and still lose." Cunningham came back in 1935 and won the AAU 1500 meters with a time of 3:52.1. He also won the Wanamaker Mile in 4:11.0, with Venzke in second place and Bonthron in third. In 1936, he won the metric mile in the AAU meet and in the trials for that year's Olympics. Knowing that he would run in the Olympics, he was cautious, not wanting to peak his speed and running condition too early. He hung back, running slowly and not pushing the pace; in one race, he said, "I'm going to win, no matter if it's going to take me the whole night," according to Nelson and Quercetani. He won that race with an almost comically slow time of 4:46.8. The 1936 Olympics. Cunningham's strategy of holding his speed in reserve seemed to work. At the Olympics, held in Berlin, he recorded his fastest-ever time in the 1500 meters-3:48.4, a new U.S. record-but unfortunately was outrun by Jack Lovelock of New Zealand, who set a new world record with his time of 3:47.8. Cunningham said of Lovelock, "He must be the greatest runner ever," according to Nelson and Quercetani. In 1937 and 1938, Cunningham won the AAU title again, making 1938 the fifth time he had won the event-four of which wins were in successive years. Endurance and Pacing. Nelson and Quercetani noted that Cunningham admired endurance, and quoted him as saying, "If you stay in the running-if you have endurance- you are bound to win over those who haven't." In addition to endurance, runners need the skill of pacing. No one can sprint for a mile, so mile runners have to plan how they will spread out their effort over the distance so that they can complete it in as short a time as possible without burning out before the finish. On March 3, 1938, at the age of 28, Cunningham showed his endurance and his pacing when he ran an unofficial, but outstanding, mile in 4:04.4. It happened on the track at Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire. The track there was known to be fast, and it was large, with only six-andtwo-thirds laps to a mile. This meant that runners could run faster on the wide turns than they could on the tighter turns of a smaller track. Cunningham had a plan for this race; he would run his first three quarter-miles in 60, 63, and 61 seconds, and then go all out on the last quarter. He ran the first quarter in 58.5, and worried that he had run it too fast and would not have the speed later when he needed it. He slowed down slightly and passed the half-mile on schedule. He hit the three-quarter mark in 3:04.2, and later said of that point, "I felt quite fresh," according to Nelson and Quercetani. On the last quarter he pushed himself to run as fast as possible, and hit the tape at 4:04.4, two seconds faster than anyone had ever run the mile before. The time was reported on the front page of the New York Times. However, track officials discounted the record because it was made on a large track. This was unfortunate; as Nelson and Quercetani pointed out, track insiders had long predicted that Cunningham would run that fast. Cunningham's unofficial record was not beaten until 1955.Only a few days later, on March 12, Cunningham ran the Columbia Mile in 4:07.4, an official indoor record. In 1939, he won the Baxter Mile for the fifth time, the Wanamaker Mile for the sixth time, the BAA indoor mile for the ninth time, and beat famed two-milers Don Lash and Greg Rice in 9:11.8. "The Parade of Great Milers Never Stands Still" In 1940, his last season of competition, Cunningham wanted to win his last 1500-meter race and retire on a high note. However, as Nelson and Quercetani wrote, "The parade of great milers never stands still. No matter who is on top, ambitious young men are plotting to overthrow him." At the race, held in Fresno, California, Cunningham was up against some of the best new track talent, including Walter Mehl, who was an impressive two-miler who had won the Big Ten title in the mile in 1939. Cunningham set the pace from the start, and the younger runners trailed him. The crowd of 14,000 fully expected to see him win, and cheered him on. Nelson and Quercetani wrote, "This was the master, at his peak for his last race, running with the grace and power of old, setting a pace as stiff as any he had ever run except for his "freak" 4:04.4. Actually, the spectators were surprised to see anyone staying close behind." They did stay, and in the home-stretch, Mehl strode past Cunningham. Cunningham had beat his own 1500-meter record with a time of 3:48, but came in second to Walter Mehl, whose time was 3:47.9. From 1940 to 1944, Cunningham worked as physical education director at Cornell College, after which he served for two years in the U.S. Navy. Cunningham married Ruth Sheffield, in the summer of 1947. Although he might have used his name as a star athlete to make a great deal of money, he was more interested in helping others than in making a fortune. He and his wife opened the Glenn Cunningham Youth Ranch and over the next three decades, raised over 10,000 foster children, ten children of their own, and two daughters from Cunningham's earlier marriage. As Frank B. Bowles wrote in Biographical Dictionary of American Sports, "With virtually no outside help, the couple handled the youngsters with old-fashioned patience and tolerance." Cunningham often went on speaking tours as a lay preacher. Because Cunningham had won 21 out of 31 races at Madison Square Garden, and set his best indoor mile there in 1938 with a time of 4:07.4, he was named the most outstanding track athlete to compete at the Garden during its first 100 years. Cunningham was elected to the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame and the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. He died in Menifee, Arkansas on March 10, 1988. Books. Biographical Dictionary of American Sports, edited by David L. Porter, Greenwood Press, 1988. Hanley, Reid M., Who's Who in Track and Field, Arlington House, 1973. Hickok, Ralph, A Who's Who of Sports Champions, Houghton Mifflin, 1995. Krise, Raymond and Bill Squires, Fast Tracks: The History of Distance Running, Stephen Greene Press, 1982. Nelson, Cordner and Roberto Quercetani, The Milers, Tafnews Press, 1985.