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| George Dole of state of Maine takes the field out from the pole in the first sub four minute mile. from L to R Tom Hulat, Christopher Chataway, Roger Bannister, Alan Gordon,Oxford U. runner, Chris Brasher, and George Dole. |
May 6, 1954 was the 66th anniversary of Roger Bannister's first sub four minute mile.
I first saw this article on Earl Young's Facebook page yesterday. Originated from Ollan Cassell.
In George Dole's Own Words see this video from a live interview with George Dole. from 'Everest on the Track'. Jeremy Mosher one of our readers was instrumental in the production of that film. Thanks to Russ Ebbets for bringing this to our attention. Furthermore, Walt Murphy provided the name of the sixth runner on the track, Alan Gordon.
The actual story appears to have come from Newscentermaine.com
((George Dole)) of Bath, Maine, was fifth in the May 1954 race at Iffley Road track in Oxford in which Roger Bannister became the first person ever to break the four-minute mile barrier.
On May 6, 1954, a young man from Maine became part of sports history.
That was the day in England when Roger Bannister became the first racer to run a mile in less than four minutes. The four-minute mile had been one of those seemingly impossible barriers in sports for a number of years, until Bannister broke it by just six-tenths of a second.
Running the race with him was George Dole, from Bath. Dole had started running as a student at Morse High School, then was on the Yale University track team. He was a graduate student at Oxford University in England, and a member of that school's track team at the time of the record-setting race.
Dole told NEWS CENTER there was great anticipation of breaking the four-minute mile, as well as some doubt it would ever happen. He says that day's race was between Oxford and the Britain AAU, and that Bannister and two other runners (ed. Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway) entered with the goal of beating the four-minute mark.
Dole started on the pole. He ran hard for the first hundred yards. At that point, three elite runners moved to the front and Dole faded out of the screen and into a happy and productive life. (ed. From the film, Dole appears to have led the first six steps of the race.)
He had run 4:10 before, but on that day he started too fast, and ended up in fifth place at 4:25.
Dole said he was so interested in what was happening in front of him, that he didn't pay too much attention to what he was doing. He was just past halfway through the final lap when Bannister finished. Dole said he could not see the finish because of all the people on the infield.
He says he still remembers the announcer giving the time for the race, and when he started saying the time as "three minutes…" Dole says people started cheering so loudly they couldn't hear the rest of the number.
It was a milestone moment in sports, although Bannister's record would be broken by an Australian runner a month and a half later.
"I always said I was last in the first," Dole told NEWS CENTER. However, at the 40th anniversary of the run, he learned that he had actually passed one of the "rabbits" in the race who had pulled to the outside and jogged to the finish. (Ed. That would have been Chris Brasher who led the race through the half mile. He quickly dropped off the pace, but because there was no rule allowing for rabbits then, and it might have cost Bannister the record had Brasher not finished. Last for Brasher, but incredible redemption if that is even the correct word, as he became an Olympic gold medallist in the Steeplechase at the Melbourne Olympics. No one else in that race achieved an Olympic medal in their careers.)
Dole was born in Fryeburg and grew up in Bath. He was the valedictorian of his class at Morse High School and did his undergraduate work at Yale.
He says the race is "a nice memory", but less important than the rest of his life. He ran only a couple of weeks after that famous day. Dole returned to the United States and went on to become the Reverend Doctor George Dole, earn a doctorate from Harvard University and have a career as a highly respected theologian.
Dole returned to Bath in 1999 to become pastor of a church. He is a highly respected leader of the Swedenborgian Church. Dole said he was still running regularly at age of 82, and said a few people know about his role in sports history but many do not.
The third place runner that day was Tom Hulat whose story we posted several years ago. See link: Tom Hulat the third man in the Iffley Road Mile
Can someone help us with who was the sixth man in the race?
If you haven’t heard by now, Alan Gordon finished 4th in Bannister’s race.
Walt Murphy
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