On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first sub 4 minute mile by Sir Roger Bannister on the 6th May 1954 in Oxford, a listing of sub 4 minute miles run in Ireland has been compiled. Research has found 261 performances by 148 athletes in 59 races across 11 venues. Of course the very first one was on the very famous night in Santry in August 1958 when Herb Elliott (AUS) broke the tape in a World Record 3.54.5 with a total of 5 going under the barrier in that race.
The fastest has been Sydney Maree (USA) 3.49.42 at the Cork City Sports in 1982. The youngest has been Neil Horsfield (GBR) 3.54.39 at the Cork City Sports in 1986 aged 19 years 7months and 1 day. The oldest has been John Walker (NZL) 3.58.29 at Giro Bank Ulster Games in 1989 aged 37 years 6 months and 5 days.
The most frequent have been Marcus O’Sullivan and Ray Flynn with 10 each followed by John Walker with 9 and Steve Scott (USA) and Eamonn Coghlan on 8 each.
The deepest field was at Cork City Sports in 1986 with 11 dipping under 4 minutes. The cities of Dublin and Cork are evenly matched with 106 performances each with Belfast having 40. Following on from Elliott in 1958, five subsequent Mile World Record holders; Peter Snell (NZL), Filbert Bayi (TAN), John Walker (NZL), Steve Ovett (GBR) and Steve Cram (GBR) ran sub 4s in Ireland.