With Flying Heels

I had the post complete and ready to upload to A Different Drummer for today. I even considered posting early so that my readers could get a little extra time to read it before the day came for my second post of the week, which I try to upload each Thursday. I had even finished the post I’d planned for the second of the week. I was ready and knew exactly what the blog would be like for the whole week.

That is, until Sunday morning when I found out what had happened the day before. Then I knew there was only one thing I could post for Monday.

On Saturday, Sir Roger Bannister passed away.

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According to his family, when he left this world, he was, “surrounded by his family who were as loved by him as he was loved by them. He banked his treasure in the hearts of his friends.”

Sir Roger died in Oxford, England, the city where, on May 6, 1954, he became the first human to officially break the infamous four minute mile barrier.

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People the world over know that Bannister broke the four minute mile but that’s all most individuals can tell you about this true man-among-men.

For one thing, he was a medical student. In this day when it seems that so many college athletes are pampered students who take easy classes that they may not even be required to attend, Roger was studying medicine, and would eventually become a world renowned neurosurgeon. He fully intended to become a doctor and retire from athletic competition.

And that’s exactly what he did.

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But on that fateful day he took the track with two friends who were also very talented runners. Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway would work to set the pace for the record attempt if, that is, the weather allowed it.

There was a blustery crosswind and the track was wet – both conditions that could cause slow times. The men watched a flag on a neighboring church as it rose and fell. Twenty minutes before the race, they agreed that conditions were acceptable…barely. Bannister calculated a 50-50 chance of success. Besides, if they failed that day, there was a good chance that Australia’s John Landy or America’s Wes Santee would break the record before the trio got another chance to try.

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It was not an idle concern. The nine-year-old world record of 4:01.4, had nearly been broken multiple times in recent months. In June, 1953 Santee ran 4:02.4, the fourth fastest mile of all time. At the end of ’53, Landy ran 4:02. In January 1954 John Landy ran 4:02.4. In February he hit 4:02.6 and on April 19 he ran another 4:02.6.

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The starting gun fired right at 6 p.m. According to Bannister, “Chris Brasher was leading. He was a steeplechaser. I settled back. First lap, 58 seconds, and then as one hoped, he took us through the half-mile in 1:58. Then during the lap in which Chris Chataway took over, inevitably he was tiring. Three quarters, I heard was three minutes, one second. I knew I had to do the last lap in 59. At 300 meters, I overtook him.”

“The world seemed to stand still, or did not exist,” he wrote in his book, “The First Four Minutes.”

He continued, “The only reality was the next 200 yards of track under my feet. The tape meant finality – extinction perhaps. I felt at that moment that it was my chance to do one thing supremely well. I drove on, impelled by a combination of fear and pride. I then went flat out for the finishing line and just about managed to stagger over it, all-in. I couldn’t stand at the end. I had always been able to take more out of myself than there was in the final sprint and I did on that occasion.”

The approximately 3000 people in attendance held their breath waiting for the official declaration. Announcer Norris McWhirter was ready.

Bannister explained, “He had carefully rehearsed. He announced: ‘The result of event No. 8, one mile, was R.G. Bannister, of Merton and Exeter Colleges, in a time which, subject to ratification, is a new track record, a new British all-comers record, a new European record, a new Commonwealth Empire record, a new world record in 3…’ That was when the crowd exploded and we didn’t hear any more. It didn’t matter what the rest was.”

The four minute mile barrier had been broken.

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Roger Bannister was named Sports Illustrated’s first Sportsman of the Year in 1954. He retired from competition although he served athletics as the first chairman of Britain’s Sports Council between 1971 and 1974. In that capacity, he led a crusade on drug-testing in athletics.

Bannister was knighted in 1975 and made a Companion of Honour in the 2017 New Year’s Honours.

He was a distinguished neurologist for forty years, and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford until his retirement in 1993.

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Sir Roger outlived both his four-minute mile pacers. Chris Brasher, who later founded the London Marathon, died in 2003 at the age of 74. After helping Bannister set the mile standard, Chris Chataway went on to break the world record for 5,000 meters. Chataway passed away in 2014 at 82.

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Sir Roger Bannister crossed his final finish line on Saturday, March 3, 2018 in Oxford, only a few minutes’ drive from the track where he ran his first ever mile, and where he broke the four-minute mile in 1954. He left behind Moyra, his wife of 63 years, as well as two sons, two daughters, and fourteen grandchildren.

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Rest well, Sir Roger. You’ve earned it.

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