Why bring back the mile?

By Charles Clines

There is a Facebook campaign afoot that wants runners to support the return of the mile race. The proponents of this hark back in history to Roger Bannister's breaking of the 4-minute barrier in 1954. The post says Bannister's achievement was the ''greatest individual achievement of the 20th century, and no other event has produced an equivalent of the sub-4-minute mile standard in the sport, in the media and in the public's mind.''

There is no question that Bannister's achievement is regarded as one of sport's greatest because at that time many ''experts'' believed it was beyond a human's capacity to break four minutes for a mile. After he broke the barrier, many other runners over the years ran faster.

But Bannister's feat was more than five decades ago. The world, and more important, the Olympics, have moved on to the metric system. The U.S. clings to its own measuring system because it's been near impossible to convince Americans to change. And now we want to go into reverse?

My first thought when I read the Facebook post was: why? Can't we be content watching runners trying to set records at the 1,600-meter distance? Besides nostalgia, what would be the reason to resurrect the mile? The barrier has been long broken. Running a sub-4-minute mile has been done many times. Maybe it would be interesting to conduct a meet where runners would take their shots at a mile. It could be interesting as a "special event," but it shouldn't be part of a regular track meet. I remember the days when I had a brand new 1963 Chevrolet Super Sport Impala with four-in-the-floor and 327 V-8 engine. I believe I set some street records in Wichita Falls with that hunk of car. But I'm fine with just having memories of it. It's not something that should be brought back. And, to me, that's the way remembering Bannister's achievement should be. It was great -- some have rated it the top sports individual achievement because it broke a seemingly impossible barrier -- but athletes in all sports continue to set new standards.

But then I'm one who would like to see our road races marked in kilometers rather than miles. I know, it's heresy. Anyway, if you're one who would like to, as the campaign says, '' return the Mile to prominence on the American sports and cultural landscape by elevating and celebrating the Mile to create a national movement'' visit www.bringbackthemile.com and join the movement.

If you'd like to comment about this or anything else, please e-mail me.