'Mo and Roger' I wish, can you just imagine doing a few training miles with Mo when you are this size and this slow? It would be my dream, but would probably be his worst nightmare!
The 6th May will be the 60th Anniversary of the first recorded sub 4 minute mile, achieved by Roger Bannister when he crossed the line in 3:59.04 at the Iffley Road Sports Ground in Oxford back in 1954.
That's quite a few years ago, but it's right and proper that we still remember the achievement. In part because of the current trend of poorer performances by English runners compared to historical data; but also to gather inspiration as we try to push ourselves harder at all levels of the sport, be it short or long distances. I managed 10:33 minute miles yesterday in training. My fastest mile time over 5K is exactly 10 minutes. Roger Bannister must have been going like a rocket when he set that blistering standard 60 years ago.
It's not the only achievement in running that has been in the news of late. But somehow this next bit was not so widely published. Mo Farah was mistakenly thought of as having somehow 'failed' at London recently. How his success can be regarded as failure I simply do not know. Charlie Spedding had held the English Record for the Marathon with a time of 2:08:33 since 1985 and then Mo Farah came along and eclipsed it. To put this Marathon Athleticism into context: not a single Briton has recorded a sub 2:10 Marathon time since 2005, that is until Mo Farah came along at his debut marathon.
Mo and Roger, I doff my hat to both of you, well done.
