Sir Roger Bannister has died. As a child I remember him breaking the "impossible" barrier of a 4 minute mile. It had been a target for years and seemed one not ever to be achieved. To think how much lower the record is now - but as they said - with modern training and technology it is interesting to think how much faster he could have gone. Ironic too that he was a neurosurgeon but then suffered from Parkinson's disease. RIP
Must have been exciting when he finally did. Seemed like the whole country had 4 minute mile fever back then. Makes you wonder what he was thinking when in the 80's & 90's when they knocked 10, 15 and then near enough 17 seconds off his WR time. Oddly though the men's mile record hasnt been beaten in this millennium.. and the womens record is from 1996. Is that because they dont run the distance as often as they once did?
He was an extraordinary guy. There was a good documentary on his record last year with the interesting side fact that he used to cycle to university in London from his home in Bath (not every day). Up the A4 all the way on a heavy old bike. That is fit.
