The Roger Bannister running track, also known as the Oxford University track, is a 400-metres
athletics
Athletics may refer to:
Sports
* Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking
** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport
* Athletics (physical culture), competi ...
running track
An all-weather running track is a rubberized, artificial running surface for track and field athletics. It provides a consistent surface for competitors to test their athletic ability unencumbered by adverse weather conditions. Historically, v ...
and stadium in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It was where Sir
Roger Bannister broke the
four-minute mile
A four-minute mile is the completion of a mile run (1609 m) in four minutes or less. It was first achieved in 1954 by Roger Bannister, at age 25, in 3:59.4. As of April 2021, the "four-minute barrier" has been broken by 1,663 athletes, and is n ...
on 6 May 1954, when it was known as the Iffley Road track. The track is owned and operated by the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
.
History
In 1867, the University of Oxford built a grass track round at
Marston Road
Marston Road is a road in the east of Oxford, England. It links London Place, the junction of St Clements, the foot of Headington Hill ( Headington Road), and Morrell Avenue by South Park to the south with the suburb of New Marston to the n ...
Sports Grounds.
It was built on clay and often flooded, or became unusable due to the wet conditions.
The university later decided to build a new running track at
Iffley Road
Iffley Road is a major arterial road in Oxford, England. It leads from the Plain, near Magdalen Bridge, southeast towards the village of Iffley. While it becomes Henley Avenue at Iffley Turn, and then Rose Hill, the whole stretch from the ri ...
.
Building work began on the one-third of a mile (536 metres) track in September 1876 by the contractor Mr Hobdell.
The ground was leased from
Christ Church.
The building work was finished two days before the first meeting, on 29–30 November 1876.
In 1948,
Roger Bannister, then a 19-year-old student at
Exeter College, was elected President of Oxford University's Athletic Club. He made it a prime aim of his presidency to replace the bumpy, uneven track with a new six-lane track. Two years later, in 1950, the new 440 yards track was refurbished and was opened by
John Lowe John Lowe may refer to:
Sports
* John Lowe (darts player) (born 1945), English darts player.
* John Lowe (footballer) (1912–1995), Scottish football player
* John Lowe (rugby league), English rugby league footballer
* John Lowe (cricketer) (18 ...
, the
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford is the chief executive and leader of the University of Oxford. The following people have been vice-chancellors of the University of Oxford (formally known as The Right Worshipful the Vice-Chancel ...
.
Since 1950, the running track has been modernised on several occasions.
In 1976 work started on the track to convert the track to a synthetic track, and it opened on 4 May 1977, and was again resurfaced in 1989.
By 2005, the track again was of poor quality. Two years later
Lord Coe
Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medals ...
, the Chairman of the
London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) was the organisation responsible for overseeing the planning and development of the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was jointly established by the UK Gov ...
and Paralympic Games, opened the newly refurbished running track on 10 May 2007. The running track was renamed the Roger Bannister running track. Coe said "It is fitting that the track at Iffley Road where Roger (Bannister) set this momentous record should be re-named in his honour. I hope that many other records will be set at this newly refurbished track and that some young athletes that run here will go on to compete in the
London 2012 Games
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
."
Later, Bannister started a series of one-mile races by University of Oxford students to mark the event. The new track has been awarded
UK Athletics
UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics officials. The orga ...
certification, which allows race meetings to be held and be eligible for any record attempts by athletes.
The sub-four-minute mile
In 1954, Bannister set himself the target of breaking the four-minute mile barrier. At the time Bannister was a 25-year-old full-time medical student at
St Mary's Hospital Medical School. He could only train for 45 minutes a day for the event. The opportunity to break the record came on 6 May 1954, when Bannister was competing in an event for the
Amateur Athletic Association against Oxford University.
Bannister was going to withdraw from the race because of the gusting wind, however, just before the race, the wind dropped and Bannister decided to compete. He arranged for
Christopher Chataway and
Chris Brasher
Christopher William Brasher CBE (21 August 1928 – 28 February 2003) was a British track and field athlete, sports journalist and co-founder of the London Marathon.
Early life and education
Born in Georgetown, British Guiana, Brasher went t ...
to be the
pacemakers
An artificial cardiac pacemaker (or artificial pacemaker, so as not to be confused with the natural cardiac pacemaker) or pacemaker is a medical device that generates electrical impulses delivered by electrodes to the chambers of the heart eit ...
, with the first three-quarters of a mile to be run in under three minutes. After Chataway and Brasher fell off, Bannister then went on to complete the final lap in less than a minute and broke the world record, collapsing when he finished. It was announced to the cheering crowd that Bannister had recorded a time of 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds.
Six runners took part and the full placings at the event were: 1, Roger Bannister (
AAA
AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to:
Airports
* Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA)
* Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA)
Arts, entertainment, and me ...
) (world record) 2, Christopher Chataway (AAA) (4 minutes and 07.2 seconds) 3,
Tom Hulatt
William Thomas Hulatt (7 September 1930 – 21 May 1990) was an English athlete notable for finishing third behind Sir Christopher Chataway in the historic race in which Sir Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile on 6 May 1954. He was ...
(AAA) (4 minutes and 16.0 seconds) 4, Alan Gordon (Oxford University) 5, George Dole (Oxford University) 6, Christopher Brasher (AAA). A third member of the Oxford University team Nigel Miller arrived as a spectator and he only realized that he was due to run when he read the programme. Efforts to borrow a running kit failed and he could not take part.
[My part in Bannister's mile by George Dole](_blank)
at Daily Telegraph Sport. Retrieved 27 April 2014
The stadium
The
Taylor Report
The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Inquiry report is the report of an inquiry which was overseen by Lord Justice Taylor, into the causes of the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989, as a result of which, ...
, published after the
Hillsborough Disaster, made a number of recommendations for the safety of all stadia. The capacity of the Iffley Road stadium had to be reduced to 499, as the cost of maintaining a stadium with 500 or more spectators was too high.
The Roger Bannister running track is part of the Iffley Road Sports Complex, which in turn is part of Oxford University Sport. Oxford University Sport also runs the Marston Road Sports Grounds, the University Parks Sports Grounds and the University Sports Centre.
Uses
Athletics
* Oxford University Athletic Club
* Oxford University Cross Country Club
Association football
*
Oxford University A.F.C.
Oxford University Association Football Club is an English football club representing the University of Oxford. The club currently plays in the BUCS Football League, the league system of British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS). In 2020 ...
References
External links
Official websiteAerial view of the track and stadium
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roger Bannister Running Track
1876 establishments in England
Athletics (track and field) venues in England
Sport at the University of Oxford
Sports venues in Oxford
University of Oxford sites
Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford
Parks and open spaces in Oxford
History of the University of Oxford
Oxford University A.F.C.
Sports venues completed in 1876
University sports venues in the United Kingdom