Athletics Australia
22 February 2001 - An unprecedented eight or more athletes could better the famous four minute mile in Australia at the Telstra Melbourne Track Classic at Olympic Park next Thursday night 1 March.
The men’s mile will highlight Australia’s premiere athletics event with Kenyan star William Chirchir aiming to set a cracking pace with the new star of Australian distance running Craig Mottram.
The mile was made famous in the 1950s with Britain’s Roger Bannister the first man to break the four minute barrier before Australia’s John Landy and Herb Elliott made their mark on this event.
With such history and prestige surrounding this event, many of the world’s best milers have entered the mile at the Melbourne Track Classic including Chirchir and compatriot Edwin Maranga and New Zealand’s Hamish Christiansen.
Currently the Oslo Dream Mile is recognised as the premiere mile on the athletics calendar but Melbourne is sure to make its mark in 2001 if eight or more athletes can run under four minutes.
Chirchir twice ran under 3:50 for the mile in 2000 including a personal best of 3:47.94, a feat that was only bettered by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj last year. He was ranked as the fourth best 1500m/mile runner in 2000 by Track & Field News and, at 22 years of age, is set to continue his rise this year.
Maranga also has a fast personal best of 3:57.5 and will push the pace in the early stages with Chirchir.
Hot on their heals will be Geelong’s Craig Mottram who was yesterday named in the Australian Team to compete in the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Lisbon, Portugal next month. Mottram broke the Australian 3000m record (7:41.35) with a daring display at the Telstra Athletics Grand Prix in Sydney on Friday and is keen to add his name to the Australians who have cracked the four minute mile.
One of those names is Mike Power who also is in great form at the moment. He pipped Mottram in the Telstra Sydney Mile at the SCG two weeks ago, and like Mottram was beaten in a sprint finish in a 1500m in Canberra on Sunday after running a hard 3000m in Sydney on Friday night.
The man who beat both Mottram and Power at the Telstra Athletics Grand Prix - Canberra on Sunday was NSW’s Youcef Abdi who adds further depth to the mile next Thursday night. Abdi clocked a personal best of 3:39.51 for 1500m in Canberra. He also took out the 1500m at the Telstra Athletics Trials in August after the disqualification of Mottram and Nick Howarth.
Ireland’s Andrew Walker and NSW 20-year-old David Byrne will also be in the mix after impressive performances to place third and fourth in the 1500m at the Telstra Athletics Grand Prix in Sydney in 3:40.99 and 3:41.47 respectively. New Zealand’s Hamish Christiansen won that race in 3:39.70 to be another strong contender in the mile.