Mile Moment of the Month: Rare World Record Set in October

On that windless fall day in the City of Lights, Jules Ladoumègue was so anxious that he false started!

By Bring Back the Mile

October is a slow month for the Mile as the year’s racing season is virtually all done by the end of summer, and thus, over the past 125-plus years, only a few U.S....

Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Diane Leather Breaking the 5 Minute Mile Barrier

By Peter Thompson

This article has been published in its entirety with the author's permission. It was initially published in the 'BMC News', the Club magazine of the British Milers' Club, in Spring 2014.

Many of you reading this blog are aware of the the 60th anniversary of breaking the 4...

Sixty years ago Diane Leather smashed world record but not sex barrier

Leather’s run was not recognized as a world record, only a world’s best, because the IAAF did not keep records above 800m for women. And that is a story in itself.

By Sean Ingle, The Guardian

Sixty years ago this May, on a crushed cinder track in the Midlands, an athlete ran into history by...

Cram’s Dream Mile

“Certainly the easiest record was the Mile. I remember crossing the line and feeling ‘woah’ and later that night I said to a few people that if I did 3:46 feeling like that then 3:44 was possible."

By Jason Henderson, Athletics Weekly

Of all Steve Cram’s record-breaking achievements, his one...

Diane Leather’s Fantastic Sub-Five

The barrier breaker looks back on her historic sub-five Mile of 60 years ago

May 6, 1954, might be a date forever etched in history, but just 23 days after Roger Bannister’s barrier-breaking sub-four-minute Mile, a woman made a similar breakthrough.

However, whereas Bannister’s achievement is...

Roger Bannister: ‘The day I broke the 4 minute Mile’

In an extract from his new book, "Twin Tracks", Bannister recounts how he prepared for his unforgettable, legendary race: "I felt at that moment that it was my chance to do one thing supremely well."

Sixty years ago, on May 6, 1954, at Iffley Road track in Oxford, Roger Bannister became the...

How I Broke the Indoor Mile Record: An Interview with a “Freak”

Coghlan owned the indoor wood in the glory days of that element, ergo his lifetime appointment as "Chairman of the Boards."

By Sarah Barker, Deadspin.com

Eamonn Coghlan is not too sensitive about the fact that today's twentysomethings were infants when he ran a Mile in 3 minutes, 49 seconds...

Lost American Mile Masters

Lesser-known runners larger-than-life champions in their day

By Roger Robinson, Running Times

Name the only American middle-distance runner to win four Olympic gold medals. Which great American Miler was rejected by the New York police because of a suspect heart?

Which famous American...

The Five Greatest Irish Runners in Villanova History

By Villanova Running

While observers might differ in the rank ordering of the best of the Irish Pipeline to Villanova, there is virtually no doubt that the top four Irish imports to have ever run at Villanova are (in my own rank order): Sonia O'Sullivan, Eamonn Coghlan, Marcus O'Sullivan and...

Peter Snell: Run of a lifetime 50 years on

"The crowd started singing 'For he's a jolly good fellow' and the place was in chaos, with people running all over the show."

By Grant Chapman, New Zealand Herald

For Sir Murray Halberg, it was a night tinged with death and sadness. For Peter Snell, it was the moment he realized he wasn't...