50th Anniversary of Jim Ryun’s Epic Sub-4 at Kansas State Meet

First sub-4 Mile at high school-only competition and State meet and still the only sub-4 at a State meet.

By Bring Back the Mile

On May 15, 1965, Jim Ryun, who a year earlier had already broken 4 minutes in the Mile as a junior for Wichita East High in Wichita, Kansas, the first prep athlete...

Jim Beatty Interview

That last quarter Mile was run out of fear because I didn’t know what I had to negotiate.

By Gary Cohen

Jim Beatty is the first person to run a sub-4:00 Mile indoors which he did on February 10, 1962 when he ran 3:58.9 at the Los Angeles Invitational. The trailblazer is also the first...

Marty Liquori Profile

From Racing Past

Marty Liquori in full flight, still viewable on the Internet, has to be one of the finest sights in competitive running. He appeared on the running scene in 1967 as the third American high-schooler to break the 4 minute Mile. The 17-year-old from New Jersey was only seventh in...

8 Things You May Not Know About Louis Zamperini

High school Mile record holder and two-time NCAA Mile champion considered candidate to run first sub-4 minute Mile

By Evan Andrews, History.com

On December 25, Universal Pictures’ new film “Unbroken” is set to debut nationwide. Based upon the bestselling book by Laura Hillenbrand, the film...

Running legend Dave Wottle was really a Miler

1972 Olympic 800m champion with numerous national Mile titles and world class times was one of the best at the storied distance

By Rick Schnittker

I first met Dave Wottle as a 15-year-old making a trip to the Ohio JC Summer State Meet in Canton, Ohio. I had qualified for the event with my...

Mile Moment of the Month: The Mile of the Century – Bannister vs. Landy 1954

First time two men go sub-4 minutes in the same Mile race

By Bring Back the Mile

Sixty years ago, on Saturday, August 7, at the 1954 British Empire & Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada, the world’s two best Milers, England’s Roger Bannister, the first man to run a sub-4 minute Mile, and...

Ryun reflects upon 50th anniversary of breaking 4 minute Mile

“When I crossed the finish line, I was a little discouraged, because I thought I hadn’t done it.”

By Rick Plumlee, The Wichita Eagle

Six hundred yards into the Mile race, Jim Ryun was bumped in the tight pack of runners. He stumbled off the track to the infield.

“I wasn’t even sure I’d...

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...

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...

The Four-Minute Man, Forever

Franz Stampfl, his coach, implored him to run in a meet between Oxford and the Amateur Athletic Association: “He said to me, ‘Although the conditions are not ideal, if you don’t take this opportunity, you might not forgive yourself for the rest of your life.’ He was right.”

By Jesse Will, The...