A Running Tribute

Sir Roger Bannister, the first person to run a mile in under four minutes, died at the age of 88. His time of three minutes 59.4 seconds, set at Iffley Road sports ground in Oxford on 6 May 1954 assured his place in athletics history. As a British school we honoured Rogers achievement by attempting to break the 4min mark in a team relay effort. The magnitude of the task surprised everyone when a calculation of sub 15 seconds each 100m per runner was needed to break the barrier. Six teams assembled from year 6 and 5 boys and girls, a Junior staff team and a combined staff and senior student team lined up.

The conditions were warm and still unlike Oxford and on the last day of term all the students not competing and parents watched in excitement as the runners gave it their best sprinting up and down the 100m straight. The senior team lead by (Head of PE and sport) Mr Subbiani brought his team home in an amazing 3.37 which also broke the current world record held by Hicham El Guerrouj who in 1999, ran 3:43.13 in a mile race in Rome.

The Junior staff team also managed to break 4mins with a fast 3.57 clocking which was steadily brought home by Mr Fellows. The Junior Year 5 and 6 teams just missed out but vowed to break it next time.