Roger Bannister How Roger Bannister Changed Modern-Day Running By: William Sylvester Junior Individual Paper 2,050 words 1 Roger Bannister was a British runner who ran in the 1940s and 1950s. He was the first person to break the four-minute-mile barrier. Roger Bannister’s accomplishment of breaking the four-minute mile barrier in 1954 had a sizeable impact on modern-day running because of his usage of interval training and his scientific research of the human body. Since 1954, over 500 people have run a mile in less than four minutes using training techniques inspired by Bannister. History of the Four-Minute-Mile Before Roger Bannister’s quest to run a sub-four-minute mile, civilizations have been running for millennia. In the ancient Greek Olympics, many of the events were footraces. Ancient Romans created the earliest mile, which equated to about 1,611 yards or 4,833 feet. In the early 1800s, Robert Barclay ran a 4:50 mile, a record at the time. Runners gradually chipped seconds off the record. In the late 1880s, Scottish runner William Cummings ran a record- breaking 4:20 mile. In 1884, British chemist Walter George reduced his time to 4:18.8. This set up the “Mile of the Century” which took place on August 23, 1886, between George and Cummings. 25,000 spectators packed the Lillie Bridge Grounds in London, England. George narrowly beat Cummings. In 1915, American Norman Taber broke George’s record by 0.2 seconds. The record was broken eight years later, by Finnish engineer Paavo Nurmi. Nurmi ran a 4:10.4 in 1923. This was a major accomplishment because of how long it took Taber to break Walter George’s record by only 0.2 seconds. Nurmi inspired a wave of amateur runners to try to reduce the record. One of these runners was Jack Lovelock. Born in New Zealand, and raised in England, Lovelock ran a 2 4:07.6 mile in 1933 in Princeton, New Jersey. Gunder Haegg and Arne Andersson were two Swedish runners who both held the mile record three times from 1942 to 1945. Haegg set the record at 4:01.4 at a race in Malmo, Sweden on July 17th, 1945.1 Roger Bannister Roger Gilbert Bannister was born on March 23, 1929, in Harrow, Middlesex County, near London. His dad, Ralph Bannister, worked as a clerk. His mother, Alice, worked in a cotton mill. The Bannister family later moved to Bath, where Roger first discovered running. He came in first in his school's 2.5-mile cross-country race. Bannister tried other sports, including rugby and rowing, but running was his favorite.2 At the age of 17, Bannister enrolled in Exeter College in Oxford, England. He soon joined the Oxford athletic club, and he participated on the track team. In his first race for the college, he ran the mile in 4:52. At the age of 19, he was being considered to represent Britain for the 1948 London Olympics. Unfortunately, he did not make the team. This motivated him to begin training for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. He began his training by traveling around the world, running in races. He did this to gain experience and to learn his opponents’ racing styles. In 1951, Bannister began medical school in London at St. Mary’s Hospital. Bannister trained by himself leading up to the Olympics. On the other hand, most of his fellow runners and competitors trained with a coach. Bannister received criticism for training by himself, but he still stayed with his methods. 1 Neal Bascomb, The Perfect Mile, published 2004, pg. 57-62. 2 Neal Bascomb, The Perfect Mile, published 2004, pg. 8-15. 3 1952 Helsinki Olympics Bannister qualified for the Helsinki Olympics in the 1,500-meter race, which is about 110 meters short of a mile. He ran a 1:52 half-mile race on May 28, 1952. This performance silenced the critics who thought it was ill-advised to train without a coach. To avoid media coverage, Bannister and his fellow runner, Chris Chataway, left for the Olympics later than the rest of the British team. Eventually, Bannsiter traveled to Helsinki where he qualified for the 1,500-meter final. Unfortunately, Bannister had to run two qualifying races instead of the one he had anticipated. The night before the 1,500-meter final Bannister had trouble sleeping. He was anxious to run against the best middle-distance runners in the world with little time to recover after the qualifying races. The fact that Chataway, his roommate, fell down in the final lap of his 5,000-meter race put pressure on Bannister to win a medal. Additionally, the British Olympians had underperformed in the rest of the games. They did not win a single gold medal. These details added to Bannister’s anxiety. The 1,500-meter final was set to take place on July 26, 1952. The German runner, Werner Lueg, started out leading, and at the 800-meter mark, Bannister was in fifth place. Bannister, known for his finishing kick, tried to sprint with 180 meters left. Fatigued from running the qualifying heats two days in a row, Bannister couldn’t accelerate. He ended up in fourth place with a time of 3:45.2, disappointing many British fans. 3 3 Jones, Matt. “Sir Roger Bannister Dies at 88; Was 1st Person to Run a Mile in Under 4 Minutes.” Bleacher Report, Bleacher Report, 30 Mar. 2018, bleacherreport.com/articles/2762583-sir-roger-bannister-dies-at-88-was-1st- person-to-run-a-mile-in-under-4-minutes. 4 To try to overcome the Olympic loss, Bannister determined to redeem himself. He set a goal to train to become the first person to break the four-minute mile barrier. American Wes Santee and Australian John Landy rivaled Bannister in the quest to run a sub-four-minute mile. Wes Santee had placed 13th in the 5,000-meter race at the Helsinki Olympics. Santee was a runner at the University of Kansas, under the famed coach Bill Easton. Unlike Bannister, John Landy failed to advance in the 1,500-meter qualifying race at Helsinki. Bannister, Santee, and Landy trained individually to break the barrier of the four-minute-mile. In late 1952, John Landy ran a 4:02.1 mile. After the race, many people questioned whether a sub-four-minute mile was possible. A great coach, Brutus Hamilton, had published a book named “The Ultimate of Human Effort” in 1935. He stated the fastest anyone can run a mile was 4:01.6. Bannister knew he needed to prove the doubters wrong. While balancing his medical studies, Bannister continued to train on his own. He thought he could get the best out of himself without a coach. During his training, he ran interval workouts on a track. His theory: he needed to run specific distances faster every training session. Interval training, like Bannister’s, is still used today to help athletes perform at their peak. Unlike other runners of his time, who spent the majority of their day training, Bannister ran short, efficient workouts. The Science of Running In his free time, he studied the effects of different levels of oxygen on the human body. In one experiment he and a friend ran on a treadmill until exhaustion set in while breathing varying levels of oxygen. He observed his oxygen consumption, lactic acid levels, and carbon dioxide levels. Bannister noticed that runners ran longer while breathing 66% oxygen instead of 5 100% oxygen. He deduced that the human heart couldn’t use the 100% oxygen as efficiently as the 66% oxygen. In his experiments, he learned that once the body stops using oxygen for fuel the muscles produce lactic acid.4 Lactic acid causes pain and cramping in muscles, which makes running difficult and painful. Scientists have confirmed this discovery today. His knowledge of how the heart and lungs worked was very advanced for his time. Bannister discovered several ways to use less oxygen to run faster. Bannister improved his running form to eliminate unnecessary motion. He also tried to run at an even pace to increase the efficiency of his oxygen consumption. Bannisterle, but he was waiting for the opportunity. The chance came on May 6th, 1954. Breaking the Four-Minute-Mile On May 6th, 1954, Roger Bannister became the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes. The race took place at a track meet between the British Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) and the University of Oxford at the Iffley Road Track in Oxford, England. The mile race was set to begin at 6:00 p.m. on a very windy and rainy day. Luckily for the runners, the clouds cleared up, and the rain slowed at about 5:45 p.m. Bannister called the weather “stupid”, and he almost didn’t participate in the race.5 Bannister and his pacesetters decided to vote on whether to attempt the record-breaking run. After voting they decided to go on with the race. The race took place on a 440-yard track (four laps equals one mile). The wind speeds registered at 15 mph during the race.6 Six runners competed in the mile event. Alan Gordon 4 Neal Bascomb, The Perfect Mile, published 2004, pg. 91-94 5 Reuter News Agencey. “Bannister Achieves Magical Mile on 3:59.4 Mark.” Salt Lake City Tribune, 7 May 1954, p. D1. 6 Reuter News Agencey. “Bannister Achieves Magical Mile on 3:59.4 Mark.” Salt Lake City Tribune, 7 May 1954, p.