The Wanamaker Mile is an indoor

mile race The mile run (1,760 yards or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races. It survived track and field's switch to ...

held annually at the

Millrose Games The Millrose Games is an annual indoor athletics meet (track and field) held each February in New York City. They started taking place at the Armory in Washington Heights in 2012, after having taken place in Madison Square Garden from 1914 to 2011 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It was named in honour of department store owner

Rodman Wanamaker Lewis Rodman Wanamaker (February 13, 1863 – March 9, 1928) was an American businessman and heir to the Wanamaker's department store fortune. In addition to operating stores in Philadelphia, New York City, and Paris, he was a patron of the arts ...

. The event was first held in 1926 inside

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

, which was the venue for the race until 2012 when it was moved to the Armory in

Upper Manhattan Upper Manhattan is the most northern region of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its southern boundary has been variously defined, but some of the most common usages are 96th Street, the northern boundary of Central Park ( 110th Street), ...

. The race was held every year at 10:00 p.m., a tradition started by the legendary sports announcer

Ted Husing Edward Britt Husing (November 27, 1901 – August 10, 1962) was an American sportscaster. He was among the first to lay the groundwork for the structure and pace of modern sports reporting on television and radio. Overview Early life and caree ...

. Husing would broadcast the race live during the nightly news. In 2002, the mile was moved to 9 p.m. to accommodate television coverage. Its start time had been moved to late afternoon by 2018 when it was nationally televised live on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

. The race is a tradition for

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

runners: past Irish winners include

Ronnie Delany Ronald Michael Delany (born 6 March 1935) is an Irish former athlete who specialised in middle-distance running. He won a gold medal in the 1500 metres event at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. He later earned a bronze medal in the 1500 ...

(1956–1959),

Eamonn Coghlan Eamonn Christopher Coghlan (born 21 November 1952) is an Irish former track and field athlete who specialised in middle distance track events and the 5,000 metres. He is a three-time Olympian and former world champion in the 5,000 m. He se ...

(1977, '79–'81, '83, '85 and '87),

Marcus O'Sullivan Marcus O'Sullivan (born in Cork, Ireland on 22 December 1961) is an Irish retired middle-distance runner. He competed for Ireland at four Summer Olympics. After Steve Scott and John Walker, he is the third all-time by total of sub-4 minute m ...

(1986, '88–'90 and 1992),

Niall Bruton Niall Bruton (born 27 October 1971) is a former Irish runner who specialized in the 1500 metres, retiring around 2000. From Dublin Niall went to Larkhill National School and then St. Aidan's C.B.S. in Whitehall, he ran with Clonliffe Harriers. B ...

(1994 and 1996), and Mark Carroll (2000). It was at the Millrose Games that Coghlan earned the nickname, "Chairman of the Boards" (from the surface of the track being made of wooden boards). O'Sullivan has run 11 sub-

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 ...

s in the Wanamaker. In 2010,

Bernard Lagat Bernard Kipchirchir Lagat (born December 12, 1974) is a Kenyan-American middle and long-distance runner. Lagat was born in Kapsabet, Kenya. Prior to his change of domicile to the US, Lagat had an extensive competitive career representing his ...

surpassed Eamonn Coghlan's record of seven Wanamaker Mile victories with his eighth victory.

References

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External links

Wanamaker Mile Champions List
Mile races Track and field competitions in the United States Men's athletics competitions Track and field in New York City Wanamaker family

See also

References

External links