The Otago Daily Times counts down the 150 greatest moments in Otago sport.
No 79: Snell and Davies' royal mile (1963)
A record crowd packed the Caledonian Ground on February 14, 1963, some to see the Queen and others to watch the king of the track, Peter Snell, break 4min.
Dunedin had built New Zealand's first all-weather track and it had been officially opened a few months earlier.
The track was given a supreme test that night and it came up trumps, with Snell winning in 3min 58.6sec from Davies, who also broke the 4min barrier in 3min 58.8sec.
They were on target when they completed two of the four laps in 2min.
Davies was leading when they got the bell with a lap to go. The time was 3min 1sec.
The leading pair now had a gap of 40m on the rest of the field but Snell had caught a cold while racing in the United States and felt the pressure down the back straight.
Davies was in control as they rounded the top bend but he could hear the roar of the crowd and knew that the world record-holder was closing the gap.
Snell pulled out his famous kick and Davies had no answer.
The Otago Daily Times report described the final lap.
"As a deep resonant roar came from the stand Snell, dressed appropiately in a royal blue singlet, fought his way around the gallant Davies with 125m to go.
"We knew he had done it for there was a magic about this, the most important athletics meeting staged in this part of the world.
"The glistening track added to the sparkle of the scene" as Snell and Davies created history for Otago athletics by beating the four minute barrier in Dunedin for the first time.
