Ask any coach for advice to their athlete who commits and takes the lead in a bid for victory, they will utter the three words: “Never look back”. The thinking behind it being that when a runner looks backwards, it is usually because they are betraying their fear that a fellow competitor is catching up with them. They are no longer running to win but more afraid of losing. It may also give their pursuer a sniff of hope and incentive of catching them. It can also have the effect of disrupting the runner’s rhythm and balance when they are already in the hurt zone as they make their final burst for home.
Those same three words provide the motto for this year’s Morton Games, Ireland’s premier athletics meeting and part of World Athletics Continental Tour series. It’s a reminder to stay in the moment, live for today and not look back with regrets or ‘what might have been’. However, we say that a little dose of nostalgia can’t do too much harm, so let’s transport ourselves back to all of 70 years ago, to the summer of 1954 when a series of races over the famous mile distance gripped the attention of the sporting public and beyond.
As already re-capped in one of our previous articles, the 6th of May 1954 saw the breaking of the 4-minute mile barrier by Roger Bannister, who ran a ground-breaking 3.59.4 at the Iffley Road track in Oxford. Three months later in Vancouver, Canada at the Empire & Commonwealth Games, anticipation was high for the “The Race of the Century”, when this time Bannister was not racing himself and the clock, but rather seven of his peers from the Commonwealth, including chief rival John Landy of Australia who himself had just recently lowered that mile world record to an astonishing 3.58.0, a mark that was to remain for another three years.
When the gun went off, a ferocious pace was set, with the early leader from New Zealand soon overtaken by Landy, who then held the lead until the final lap. Bannister moved his way up to second place, closing on Landy. Then, coming off the final bend, Landy sensing Bannister on his tail, crucially glanced over his left shoulder. As Landy looked back to his left, Bannister burst past him on the right, sending the 35,000 spectators into a frenzy, and ultimately crossed the finish line victorious! The race, later becoming more commonly known as “The Miracle Mile” was the first time that more than one man had gone ‘sub-4’ in the one race and was followed by several million television viewers and over 100 million radio-listeners worldwide.
That famous moment, when Landy looked back and Bannister passed him on his ‘blind side’ was later immortalised by a bronze statue erected outside the Empire Stadium, Vancouver as part of Canada’s centennial celebrations in 1967. It was since moved to the Empire Fields with the stunning backdrop of the North Shore mountains befitting such an iconic moment and work of art.
70 years on, the Mile race still retains an allure for many a middle-distance athlete, despite the world record being successively lowered to well below 4 minutes (at time of writing: 3.43.13). Indeed, our own Morton Mile has seen over 10 men achieve that sub-4 mark in a single race. Who knows what drama and times will be served up in this year’s edition on Friday night, 12th of July, as the sun goes down and Morton Stadium lights flicker to life? One thing is fair to assume: Any coach, pundit or scholar of the sport worth their salt will surely warn an athlete who has designs on lifting the Billy Morton Cup: “Never look back!”
Words: Declan Power, June 2024