"Ladies and gentlemen, here is the result of event 9, the one-mile: 1st, No. 41, R.G. Bannister, Amateur Athletic Association and formerly of Exeter and Merton Colleges, Oxford, with a time which is a new meeting and track record, and which - subject to ratification - will be a new English Native, British National, All-Comers, European, British Empire, and World Record. The time was 3..." The stadium speaker never got to finish his sentence for he was drowned out by the thunderous roar of the crowd. Never before in history had any athlete broken the elusive four minute barrier in the standard mile. Today, May 6th 1954, changed all that.

On that day athletic history was written on the Iffley Road Track in Oxford when Roger Bannister broke the world-record by running 3:59.4. The race was the culmination of many years of meticulous preparation, dreaming and planning which eventually brought Bannister the crown of victory. The fact that Bannister ran away with the record first was no mere coincidence. As Bannister once said, "The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win."

Roger Bannister was not the only one trying to tackle the seemingly insurmountable 4 minute barrier. There were many other kids on the block. Foremost among them was Australian John Landy, who ran a 4:02 mile in 1953. He was to prove Bannister's greatest rival in chasing the world record.

Bannister trained only an hour a day - very little compared to other world class milers of his time. Being a full time medical student, he could only train during his lunch hour or at night when his other duties were finished. He sometimes entered the track at 11 p.m. for his workout.

Bannister's secret of approaching the mile was to divide the race up into four 400 metre segments, or four laps on a regular track. In his interval training he always aimed to run each lap in or just under one minute. After many workouts running one minute laps became second nature to him. He then felt he had it in him to break the world record.

Bannister was one of the first athletes who gave due importance to the role of psychology in running. He was well aware of the significance the mind played in winning and losing. He wrote, "Psychological and other factors beyond the ken of physiology set the razor's edge of defeat or victory and determine how closely the athlete approaches the absolute limits of performance."

We know that faith can move mountains. Bannister proved it. Self-confidence was his middle name. He believed he could break the record, and he did. Landy on the other hand was less fortunate in this respect. After running several 4:02 miles, he commented about the sub four-minute mile: "It is a brick wall. I shall not attempt it again." Interestingly, after Bannister broke the record, Landy suddenly felt it was possible and very soon afterwards ran 3:58, a new world-record! Here we see the power of positive and affirmative thinking. Bannister's self-confidence gave him the 'razor's edge' with which he could slice through impossibility's thick harness. And by conquering his own limitations he cleared the path for others to follow in his footsteps. Quite literally speaking.

About the author:

Abhinabha Tangerman is a freelance journalist and a marathon runner with a personal best of 2:43. He lives in The Hague, The Netherlands.