Roger Bannister 'would have loved' community mile
The son of Sir Roger Bannister says his father "would have loved" the community mile event taking place in his honour. Sir Roger Bannister ran a mile in three minutes and 59.4 seconds at the city's Iffley Road track on 6 May 1954.Speaking at the second Bannister Mile event in Oxford on Monday, Thurstan Bannister said the atmosphere was "electric" with people from all ages coming out to take part. "It's really there to encourage people to just try it out and maybe they'll go on to 5k and 10k but it's just an excellent event to get people started. We've got five-year-olds and 95-year-olds".
One of those taking part was 92-year-old David Picksley, who witnessed Sir Roger's feat in 1954 and has been a runner all of his life. Speaking after finishing the race, he said "people need to push themselves in whatever they want to do"."If you stop doing what you can do you probably fade away more quickly," he said. "I feel I'm fading away so I've got to keep things going."
Also at the event was Olympian and European silver medallist in the 10,000m Chris Thompson and his son Theo, who ran together.Mr Thompson said he wanted to give his children as many experiences through sport as he could, and that events like the Bannister Mile were a great place for that."It's not always about running a four-minute mile, it's not always about times, it's about the sense of achievement. "So many people come away inspired to run and everyone should feel like they can give it a go if they want to."
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