Mile News


Master of the Mile

October 28, 1996

Steve Scott, now 40 and a cancer survivor, plans to break 4 minutes again

By John Walters, Sports Illustrated

Steve Scott stands at the starting line on the track at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field, in Eugene, on May 26, 1996. He has 4 minutes to prove to himself that he is immortal. Running more sub-4 minute Miles (137) than anyone in history has not convinced him. Nor has setting the U.S. record in the Mile (3:47.69), a 14-year-old mark no other American has approached. Beating cancer, which Scott did in 1994, came closest to establishing his immortality. "It was just like overcoming an injury," he says.

Steve Scott—the name sounds boyish, like Peter Pan—will run four laps around Hayward's oval against a world class field. Twenty-one days before, on May 5, he celebrated his 40th birthday. "I couldn't wait to turn 40," he says. "For the last three years I've been salivating for that day."

He wants to be the first Masters runner - 40 and older - to break 4 minutes for the Mile outdoors. (Eamonn Coghlan accomplished the feat indoors in Boston in 1994.) Three years have passed since Scott's last sub-4, but as Coghlan, 43, says, "If anyone that age knows how to break 4 minutes, Steve Scott does."

Starting in Los Angeles, where he first broke the barrier in 1977, Scott and the sub-4 Mile roamed 29 countries on six continents. The track club that sponsored Scott in his prime, during the early 1980s - its name was emblazoned across his singlet, as if on a license plate - was called Sub 4. Scott's California license plate reads MRMILER.

Continue reading at: sportsillustrated.com

Tags: steve scott (41) , eamonn coghlan (29)

Facebook Comments

Return the Mile to prominence on the American & worldwide sports and cultural landscape by elevating and celebrating the Mile to create a movement.

ELEVATE
Bring Back the Mile as the premier event in the sport, and increase interest in and media coverage of the Mile for both those who love the distance as well as the general public.

CELEBRATE
Bring Back the Mile to celebrate the storied distance and to recognize the people who made and make the Mile great and to promote Mile events and the next generation of U.S. Milers.

NATIONAL MOVEMENT
Bring Back the Mile to create a national movement for the Mile as America’s Distance,
to inspire Americans to run the Mile as part of their fitness program and to replace the 1600 meters at High School State Track & Field Meets across the country.

Become a Mile Maniac member or a BBTM sponsor today! Join us, and go Mile!

Join Us

Thanks for joining the movement and being a Mile Maniac. We'll keep you up to-date with our Mile wires as well as exclusive contests and opportunities. Help us spread the word by sharing our site and joining us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram!