Bannister Wins 4 Minute Mile Vancouver Next

(Friday, May 7, 1954, Toronto Daily Star)
`Reproduced with permission - The Toronto Star Syndicate'

Roger Bannister, the world's first and only four-minute miler, rolled home with the milkman this morning after hitting the high spots in night clubs all over town.

The young medical student, along with Chris Brasher and Chis Chataway, the two whose blistering pace made Bannister's 3.59.4 mile possible and three girl friends, toured the town dancing, drinking and singing.

The night clubs close officially at 3:30 a.m. but in one place some of the musicians obligingly worked overtime while Bannister through a microphone crooned the appropriate "Time On My Hands" and other songs.

Bannister told reporters "a little champagne now and then never hurt anyone. It helps you relax after a strain and I think you'll admit a four-minute mile is something of a strain."

He showed up early this morning at St. Mary's hospital, where he is in his fnal year, looking as fresh as if he had spent the last 24 yours in bed.

A group of medical students raised him on their shoulders and marched out of the hospital courtyard into the street and paraded him up and down for the admiring early bird Londoners to see.

Bannister said he would not run again against the clock this season.

"My main objectives this year will be the British Empire Games at Vancouver and the European games at Berne," Bannister said.

Bannister's spectacular conquest of the almighty four-minute mile enshrines him forever in the archives of sports greats. His 3:59:4 clocking in a race at Oxford, Eng. yesterday earned the 25 year-old Englishman the right to claim athletic perfection.

The four-minute mile was considered a golden goal in track and field, one which required perfection to attain. The serious young man of science has achieved that flawless feat.

As for the rest - the Wes Santees, the Mal Whitfields, the John Landys, the Murray Halbergs, the Gordon Pieries and the Josp Barthels - all that remains for them is the chance to follow. Bannister was the first to shatter the so-called athletic "sound barrier."

Bannister put his finger on one aspect of his now historic race that surprised the experts - he shook off his closest pursuer 300 yards from home and went the rest of the way alone on the strength of an amazing finishing spurt that British fans have come to call "a Bannister special". The experts had expected the record to fall in a race where two runners pressed each other all the way.

For another, the weather conditions were all "wrong" - a crosswind was blowing and there was rain until shortly before the race.

Bannister, who said he had trained "especially for this race" disclosed that the threatening weather had almost forced him to delay his record attempt.

"It wasn't until late in the day that I decided to try for the record" said Bannister. "But if you wait for good weather in this country, you wait a long time."

It was only a few minutes before the race that this decision was reached and Bannister and Chris Chataway, his colleague with whom he trained in secret sessions all winter, passed word around to the officials that Roger would try for "a really fast mile."

Chataway, who had trained himself loyally for the purpose of driving Bannister through the first three-quarters of a mile in exactly three minutes, fulfilled this role in the drama perfectly. After Chris Brasher had set a blazing pace for first half mile, Chataway then raced stride for stride with Bannister and they passed the three-quarter mile in #:00.7.

That put the record within Roger's reach and the strapping blond took it from there with a heart-pounding 58.7 clocking for the last quarter mile. Chataway hung on gamely until 300 yeards from the end, and then fell back to finish in 4.07.02.

It was the supreme comeback for Bannister, who disappointed his nation in the 1952 Olympics by finishing a dismal fourth in the 1,500-meter event at Helsinki. Yesterday, Roger's time for 1,500 meters equalled the world standard of 3:43 held by Gundar Haegg, Lennart Strand of Sweden and Werner Lueg of Germany.

Competing in a six-man field, and making his first mile start of the year, the studious Bannister utilized the pacing assistance of his two "rabbits" teammates Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway.

They paced him to a 57.7 first quarter and a 60.6 second quarter and when his half time of 1:53:3 was announced the corporals guard of less than 1,000 spectators on hand came alive with excitement.

Fellow-runners know Bannister as the "lone wolf miler" because he scorned coaches and worked out his own training schedules until early this year, when he got together with Franz Stampfl, and Austrian coach.

For years, the self-possessed young athlete has used himself as a "guinea pig" in experiments. He once ran on a moving belt in the labs to test the effect on a runner inhaling pure oxygen.

His unconventional training methods have drawn much criticism - particularly when he insisted on using them before the 1952 Olympic games.

The critics seemed right when the dark-haired hopeful came fourth in the 1,500 metre event at Helsinki. Since then, his sport-page rating as a potential four-minute miler has been low.

Bannister who entered track only because his 150 pounds were too light for the Oxford rowing crew ascribes his success as a runner to two things.

One is his long legs - 35 inches inside measurement. Second is his lung capacity. He patterned his running style after the late Jack Lovelock, who won the Olympic 1,500 metres in 1936 and was once the world record holder for the mile. e that the Swiss quit.

Haegg, the man whose record fell before Bannister, said at Lulea, Sweden, that he has been "prepared to bet my last shirt" that Bannister would be the first four-minute miler.

Haeff said he watched Bannister win the European 800 metre championship in 1951 and decided then that the Briton "uses his brains as much as his legs."

In an interview two months ago Haegg told and Associated Press reporter he expected Bannister to do the trick this year.

Last story: 2 of British Team Conquer Everest: Delighted Queen Cables Thanks.