Middle distance running is embedded in our country’s DNA.
Nick Willis is probably the most well-known athlete in recent years at the international level, being an Olympic silver and bronze medallist over 1500m.
Recently Sam Ruthe captured the nation’s attention in becoming the first 15-year-old in the world to run under 4 minutes for the mile, recording a time of 3min 58.35sec at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland. He was very ably supported throughout the race by Olympian Sam Tanner.
This is an astonishing achievement at such a young age and equally impressive was the level of maturity displayed. His parents are both accomplished athletes.
Nowadays of course all running events are metric, but nonetheless the mile record continues to fascinate, and the best athletes still compete on a fairly regular basis over this distance. There were many who thought it not possible to run a mile under 4 minutes.
The first to do so was Roger Bannister on May 6, 1954, in a time of 3min 59.4sec.
The current record over this distance is 3min 43.13sec set by Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999. Not surprisingly, he is also the world 1500m record holder with a time of 3min 26sec.
The first New Zealander to break the 4-minute-mile barrier was Murray Halberg in 1958 in a time of 3min 57.5sec. At the 1960 Rome Olympics he won gold in the 5000m.
Two New Zealanders have held the world mile record.
Peter Snell broke it on two occasions: firstly, at Cooks Gardens, Whanganui, in 1962 running 3min 54.4sec and again in Auckland in 1964 when he ran 3min 54.1sec. He is New Zealand’s greatest track athlete ever, winning three Olympic gold medals and two Commonwealth Games golds over a period of four years.
He excelled at 800m but could easily have run faster over the mile or 1500m had he been pushed. Being an amateur athlete, he retired at the age of 26 and went on to have a satisfying academic career in physiology in Dallas, Texas.
In 2000, Snell was voted New Zealand athlete of the 20th century.
John Walker was the first athlete in the world to run under 3min 50sec for the mile achieving a remarkable time of 3min 49.4sec in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1975. A year later he went on to win the 1500m gold medal at the Montreal Olympics.
During a long running career, he became the first ever to complete 100 sub-4-minute miles, finishing up with a total of 135. In recent years he has been challenged with health issues but has faced this with dignity and determination.
Not to be forgotten is Jack Lovelock. Amid the controversy of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, he strode imperiously to victory in the 1500m in a world record time of 3min 47.8sec which equates to a mile in 4min 4sec. His subsequent medical career took him to New York, where in 1949 he died tragically as a result of a subway accident.
The Lovelock legend though continues down the generations. He attended Timaru Boys’ High School, as did local hero Dick Tayler who set alight the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch with his remarkable and inspiring win in the 10,000m.
Norway’s running sensation Jakab Ingebrigtsen ran the third-fastest mile of all time in September 2023, recording 3min 43.73sec. In 2017 when he was 16, he became the youngest sub-4-minute-miler with a time of 3min 58.7sec.
Ruthe has now eclipsed this, and last weekend broke his own record for the fastest 1500m by a 15-year-old when clocking 3min 40.12sec.
He is very young and has much living to do.
But undoubtedly, he will be watched closely and will likely revive interest and certainly rekindle fond memories of New Zealand’s golden age in middle distance running when the black singlet and silver fern was often at the forefront.
— Joss Miller is a retired Dunedin lawyer and former competitive runner.
