Never set limits, go after your dreams

Newspaper Account of Roger Bannister Running the Four-Minute Mile – May 1954
Well done, Roger Bannister! Britain’s great mile runner has achieved the ambition of all athletes; he has broken the four minute mile barrier. Athletes the world over are saluting this great performance.

There was something very understated about the way this wonderful, world record was set up. A young man went to his old university for the evening and there, watched by an excited but small crowd, smashed a record which had, until last night, defied all runners in history.

Commenting afterwards, Bannister said: Doctors and scientists said breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line, I figured I was dead. It is the brain, not the heart or lungs, that is the critical organ.

As I hope you might expect, I try hard not to break the law. However, I want to share an occasion when I got it wrong. It wasn’t murder, theft, fraud, or anything like that, but it’s an incident I’m still not proud of, even though it happened over three decades ago.

I was at university, visiting a friend at a different college. It was quite late in the evening, dark, and I was on a battered old bike. There was a shortcut along a narrow alley to where I was going, and I had two options: get off my bike and walk, because cycling was not permitted along the alley, or take the longer route by road. Foolishly, I decided to take a third option and cycle down the alley in the dark, hoping no one would see me.

Rules are there for a reason, and there was a reason why cycling down the alley was prohibited. That’s essentially what was said to me by an angry Master of the College and renowned neurologist, Sir Roger Bannister, who, as he came round a bend in the alley, was very nearly run over as a result of my poor choice – and he was right.

The story that Gus shared with us a moment ago comes from a newspaper report written the day after the same Roger Bannister ran a mile in less than four minutes at the Cowley Road track in Oxford in May 1954. For years, the world record for a mile had stayed at just over four minutes, and doctors and scientists believed it was impossible for a human to cover the distance in less than four minutes.

In contrast, Bannister believed it could be done. He planned his training carefully, and despite all the demands of being a medical student as well as an amateur athlete, he managed to prepare to break the record. He focused on interval training, short bursts of intense running followed by rest periods, to build speed and endurance.

On the day of the race, May 6, 1954, there were strong winds, making things more difficult. However, his pacemakers, Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway, played crucial roles in setting the pace for the first three laps. Bannister took over in the final lap, pushing himself to the limit and crossing the finish line in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. In doing so, he shattered the myth that the four-minute mile was an insurmountable barrier.

Why am I recounting all this now? Well, at this stage of the term, many of us will have lots of work to do, assignments to complete, deadlines to meet, and revision to tackle. At times, it may seem like an impossible mountain to climb, on top of everything else we have to do, and even if others aren’t saying it can’t be done, perhaps there is a small voice inside us saying just that.

Nearly 50 years after Roger Bannister, Paula Radcliffe set a marathon record which lasted 16 years. Her advice was, never set limits, go after your dreams, don’t be afraid to push the boundaries… and laugh a lot because it’s good for you. All of us can achieve so much more than we believe - if we plan, work hard, believe in ourselves and seek help from others. Keep going because it will all be worth it – and try to enjoy it too!