Long-distance running confined area. Early tracks were usually on flattened earth or were simply marked areas of grass. The style of running tracks became refined during the 20th century: the oval running tracks were standardised to 400 metres in distance and cinder tracks were replaced by synthetic all-weather running track of asphalt and rubber from the mid-1960s onwards. It was not until the 1912 Stockholm Olympics that the standard long-distance track events of 5000 metres and 10,000 metres were introduced. Long-distance road running competitions are mainly conducted on courses of paved or tarmac roads, although major events often finish on the track
Roger Bannister running track new running track at Iffley Road. 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