What group was Roger Bannister representing when he broke the 4 minute mile at 3 minutes 59.4 seconds on 6 May 1954?
Roger Bannister running track 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 to be
Roger Bannister running track the pacemakers, 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) (world record) 2, Christopher Chataway (AAA) (4 minutes and 07.2 seconds) 3, Tom Hulatt (AAA) (4 minutes and 16.0