6th May 1954 saw Roger Bannister ably assisted by Chris Brasher and Chris Chattaway, later Olympic Gold Medal winner and 5km World record holder, become the first human to run a mile in under 4 minutes when he broke the tape in 3 mins 59.4 seconds at Oxford’s Iffley Road Track. Since then only 1500 men have run the fabled sub 4 minute mile. To mark this major sporting achievement over 66 years ago Manx Harriers have organised a Mile or 1 Km Individual Time Trial Challenge over the last few days.
28 athletes took part in the event all running on quiet routes, some over a set mile distance, some as part of a greater run or training session. Others ran 20 laps in their garden whilst yet more ran on their treadmill. All kept to social distancing guidelines and all enjoyed the experience. The result is reported in 2 ways – firstly basic time and then by age grading. The latter allows comparisons to be made between gender and different ages so making for some interesting observations.
Rachael Franklin produced the fastest time in 4 mins 45 seconds only six seconds outside her Manx record while running on the prom. Chris Reynolds was the fastest male in 4 mins 52 seconds. 14 year old Macy Hillier had a strong run over on the Wirral to record 5.08 seconds while 9 runners got under the 5.40 barrier. Abi and Poppy Clayton did their mile on their treadmill and Nigel Armstrong ran over 20 laps of his garden to produce his mile time!!!
Best on age grading was Macy Hillier whose 5.08.0 gave a grading of 90.94%. 5 other runners got over the 80% mark with Rachael, Gail, Caroline, Andy and Chris all having great runs. Gail and Caroline’s performances were top notch and show both are in fine form at present. Looking further down this list it is great to see how many athletes will be pleased with their age grading. Anything over 70% is seen as regional class, 80% is deemed to be National Standard and over 90% International standard so some fine performances have been achieved as well as some great fun for all.
Over 1km Kayleigh-Dee Corrin produced the fastest time and best age grading while all the youngsters put in a great effort. Ethan Watt had a great run and Regan Corrin showed he is multi-talented as the hurdler, sprinter and jumper added middle distance to his array of talents. Well done all the youngsters for having a go and enjoying the challenge.
Had these times been run in properly organised competitions some IOM Age records would have been produced as well as many PBs. This is even more remarkable when considering athletes were running on their own!
Here are the full results
IOM Athletics in conjunction with Manx Harriers are looking to organise a similar series of events over the summer to help keep all runners motivated and inspired to get fitter and faster or just enjoy doing something a little different. Here’s the first “Foxy’s 5km Challenge”.