The 4 minute mile - inspirational running in Maida Vale!

We went to Maida Vale recreation ground today in West London.  Maida Vale is a well known residential area of London and is the venue for the famous BBC Maida Vale studios.  I didn't realise until today that it is also has a running claim to fame too...

The Maida Vale recreation ground (also known as 'Paddington Rec') is where Roger Bannister trained before he broke the 4 minute mile barrier.  The 6 lane synthetic track has been renovated in recent years and is a great resource for runners - especially as it has lockers, facilities and appeared to be free for anyone to use (please correct me if I'm wrong!)

[I believe Maida Vale running track is used by the Serpentine Running club - details here: http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/location_paddington.html]

There are a couple of inspirational plaques on the wall of the building next to Maida Vale running track and they tell the story of how Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute mile:

Roger Bannister plaque commerating the first sub-4 minute mile

Roger Bannister plaque Maida Vale

"On the current site of the village green between 1951 and 1954, Sir Roger Bannister, Sir Christopher Chataway and Chris Brasher CBE trained prior to Sir Roger breaking the one mile running record on 6th May 1954.

One of the most challenging barriers in sport, the four minute target had stood for so long that Bannister's great rival, the Australian John Landy, said that he was beginning to think it was impossible.

The attempt by the 25 year old medical student from Oxford University was many weeks in the planning, and when the wind dropped just before the start of the race on the cinder track at Oxford University Athletics Ground he sensed his moment had arrived.  It was agreed that Bannister's running mates, Chris Brasher and Christopher Chataway, would lead the first three laps and that Bannister would take over on the final lap.  The plan worked perfectly.  Bannister, who was only able to train for an hour each day because of his studies at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School, ran the last lap in 59 seconds, crossing the line in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds beating the previous best of 4 minutes 1.3 seconds set by Gunder Hägge in 1945."

A great place to run!