Spectating
Spectators are welcome throughout, with a temporary stand and big screen erected for the occasion alongside food and drink stalls and a pop-up museum. In collaboration with World Athletics Heritage, the museum will bring together athletics memorabilia and chronicle the colourful and inspirational history of mile running.
Spectator tickets are FREE and we have hundreds of walk-up spaces so please come down early and take your seat at Iffley Road.
KEY SPECTATOR DETAILS
Spectator Entry
Spectators are more than welcome and it is FREE to come along. We have sold out of our guaranteed entry before 3pm but there are still hundreds of walk up tickets available, so please do not worry.
Turn up early to avoid disappointment.
All spectators will need to enter via the southern gate (purple circle). Athletes only enter via the northern gate (blue circle) and through registration. Please see map below
Legends in attendance
Four mile world record holders will be joining us for the day. Current world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj along with Steve Cram, Nourddine Morceli and Filbert Bayi. They will be joined by other athletics legends including Jo Pavey, Eamonn Coghlan, Shelia Carey and many other Olympians. Representative from England Athletics, UKA and World Athletics will also be in attendance.
Museum:
Full details of the World Athletics pop up museum can be found below. In addition, Pembroke College and Irish Milers Club founder, Brendan Hacket will be bringing items to display. The University will also be displaying for the first time in 15 years a stopwatch used on the day in 1954.
Spectator Experience
Sunday 5th May
Bannister: Everest on the Track (Film Showing)
Witness the inspiring story of Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to run a mile in under four minutes, as chronicled in Tom Ratcliffe's acclaimed 2016 documentary. Bannister: Everest on the Track won the top prize - the Golden Achilles - at the 2019 International Athletics Film Festival. This showing marks 70 years since the sub-four minute mile, and will be introduced by Geoffrey Weston, trackside that evening in 1954 and one of the stars of the documentary. Don't miss out on this historic, free, and in-person event!
This event will start at 6pm, with doors open from 5.45pm. Please enter Merton College from the Rose Lane entrance. Stewards will be on hand to direct you to the theatre.
Saturday 4th - Monday 6th May
The Museum of World Athletics (MOWA) is staging a pop-up exhibit for three-days at the Sir Roger Bannister Athletic Track, Iffley Road, Oxford.
In celebration of the 70th anniversary of Sir Roger Bannister’s sub-four minutes mile on 6th May 1954, the section of our collection related to the 1500 metres and one mile running has been shipped from World Athletics’ HQ in Monaco.
The historic display features competition artefacts donated to the MOWA by nineteen of the world’s greatest middle-distance runners.
These athletes have between them won eleven Olympic Games & twelve World Championships 1500m titles and have set ratified world records, eight times at 1500m and ten times at the mile.
This group includes the first man to go sub-3.30 for the 1500m, the first men to go sub-4 at the mile outdoors and indoors, the first woman inside five minutes for the mile, the current outdoor world record holders for both the men’s and women’s miles, and the women’s indoor 1500m record holder.
Four of the athletes, each of them world indoor mile record breakers, have between them won 20 Wanamaker Mile titles in the world-famous Millrose Games, New York.
MOWA 1500m & Mile Heritage Display
The what
In honour of Rodger Bannister's accomplishment 70 years ago, we're organising the Bannister Mile - a thrilling one-mile race where participants can strive to achieve the coveted sub-four-minute mile.
The where
Location: Lorum Ipsum Street, Oxford, OX1
The when
Date: 1st February 2024
Registration: 8am
Race: 9am
PARTNERS IN ATTENDANCE
