Did you see where Shane Moskowitz,the former Central Kitsap distance runner now competing at Oklahoma State, ran a 3:59.48 mile during an indoor meet at the University of Arkansas?
And Moskowitz placed sixth!!!! Three Oklahoma State teammates also dipped into the 3:50s. The race was won by Patrick Casey of Oklahoma (3:56.28).
I’m hardly a track and field expert, but the four-minute mile has always been a magical number. It’s been nearly 60 years since Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile, covering the 1,760 yards (or 1,609.344 meters) in 3:59.4 in 1954.
I googled and I binged, but I couldn’t come up with an answer as to how many male runners belong to the club that was started by Roger Bannister in 1954 when he ran 3:59.4. Five years ago, someone said 1,000 runners had broke the 4-minute barrier.
The world record for the mile? According to the IAFF, which oversees records, it’s owned by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco, who ran a breath-taking 3:43.13 mile in 1999. The Moroccon runner also holds the indoor mile record (3:48.45), set in 1997. The female record for the outdoor mile is held by Svetlana Masterkova (4:12.56).
Moskowitz, a sophomore in eligibility, helped the Cowboys win an NCAA title in cross country in November. He won a state cross country title and four state track and field titles (in the 1600 and 3200) at Central Kitsap. He’ll run the 1,500 meters this spring for the Cowboys.
Somehow, you get the feeling that Moskowitz will go even faster. And you have to be pretty fast to break the 4-minute mark. It’s the equivalent of running 4 miles at the speed of 15 miles per hour, or running 14.91 seconds per 100 meters. Nice goin’ Shane.
Jim Ryun, 1967, 3.51 min
Everything you stated is true for the OUTDOOR mile. Moskowitz’s feat however was INDOOR. All the more impressive. There are very distinct differences between the indoor and outdoor mile and thus the different records. Indoor times are generally slower because of the different track dimensions used. Outdoor tracks are almost all 400 (440 yard) ovals. 4 laps per mile. Indoor, has banked ovals and some square tracks with 4 turns. Some don’t have banks and we haven’t even touched on the surface. I have never ran on the Arkansas track so I am not familiar with it, but it sounds like a very fast banked track.
Just wanted to make sure that your readers understand that a 3:59 indoor mile is so much more impressive (along with the 5 other guys to do it) than just running a 4 minute mile. They used to do the Wanamaker mile in NY city on 5th Ave., 1 mile straight on asphalt slightly down hill. It was very fast and the whole field usually all broke 4 minutes. I don’t think it counts as a record though because its straight and downhill. Still very impressive to watch.
Also On March 5, 2010, Kyle Heath (Victor HS, Syracuse Univ.), became only the 345th American runner to break four minutes in the one mile run, so I would venture to say not even a 1 thousand men have done it.
I appreciate all the support I get from you guys’ at the Kitsap Sun! It means a lot that I still have people watching from back home. I will let you in on a few facts, I was the 387th U.S. athlete to run sub 4 and there has been close to 1300 runners in the world to run under 4 minutes. It definitely makes it much easier when you are as lucky as I have been to have had the coaches at CK to help me develop as well as Dave Smith and the teammates that I have here at OSU.
Thanks again for the support,
Shane
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