Thurstan Bannister: “My father was a visionary and model of hard work”

On the eve of the Bannister Miles event, one of Sir Roger Bannister’s children proudly talks about the great man’s legacy

With the Bannister Miles event set to unfold on Monday, what would Sir Roger Bannister himself think of the modern athletics scene with its advances in technology together with the fact British men – Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman – have won the last two world 1500m titles?

There are surely few people better to ask than Thurstan Bannister – one of Sir Roger’s four children and part of the organising team for the Bannister Miles meeting.

“I think my father would be very pleased as he was always keenly followed British athletes,” says Thurstan on the recent successes of British athletes on the global scene. “He had wonderful dialogues with Seb Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram and those were dialogues that were continued as far as possible for many years.”

Sir Roger died in 2018 but his feat of becoming the first man to run a sub-four-minute mile is very much alive and celebrates its 70^th anniversary on May 6.

Thurstan adds: “I think he realised the training demands had changed and it required much more time and dedication than in his era, but he embraced people’s choices about what they would do and their striving for excellence in the paths they chose.”

The Bannister Miles event kicks off with a series of community miles at 9am followed by track races at Iffley Road in Oxford in the afternoon culminating with elite mile races at 6pm. There is also a mile fair with a pop-up museum and World Athletics Heritage presentations in the afternoon.

Lots of people from Oxford University and its cross-country and athletics club members through to the British Milers’ Club and World Athletics have put considerable effort into creating a great celebration on Monday. Among other things a number of supermilers are aiming to be in attendance, including Filbert Bayi, Noureddine Morceli, British record-holder Steve Cram, indoor mile legend Eamonn Coghlan and current world record-holder Hicham El Guerrouj.

Seb Coe is unable to attend due to a clash with the World Relays in the Bahamas but the World Athletics president – a huge supporter of Bannister’s achievement and legacy – is expected to deliver a video message at the event.

Seb Coe and Hicham El Guerrouj (Getty)

“I think it’s a tremendous opportunity,” Thurstan continues about Monday’s event. “It’s not just looking back, it’s enjoying the present and looking to the future. My father has this great legacy of supporting and being fascinated by elite running but also being a huge advocate of a sport for everyone as a source of enjoyment, as a source of friendship.”

He continues: “It’s becoming a really unique event. And I want it to be an anchor event in the future, because it combines a really tremendous large-scale track meet, focused on the mile along with this community mile.”

Indeed, Thurstan says the element of the day he’s most looking forward to are the children’s waves in the community mile. “One of the things that has really come out as we’ve presented this new possibility is that it’s an entry point for people trying out running and jogging,” he explains.

“A lot of the road events in the country at the moment are 5km, 10km, half- marathons, marathons. Well, this is just a mile. Anyone can try out a mile and it with the excitement of it, the enjoyment of it that may start something new in their life.”

Roger Bannister and Craig Mottram at the 50th anniversary event (Mark Shearman)

Whereas Sir Roger made a huge impact in the medical world and also in sports politics, Thurstan went into the world of finance and took up cycling. He does, however, have fond memories of running with his father as a child.

“We were aware of it (the sub-four-minute mile) because he was often away doing things and he’d be greeted by people in the street,” he remembers. “We obviously had trophies and memorabilia. And we were running with him quite a lot in places like Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common.”

It is five years since Sir Roger died and his son is clearly full of pride over not just his father’s achievements but his all-round personality.

“I think the most important thing to say is I’m so grateful for having such a marvellous father, such a visionary, so idealistic. What a model in terms of hard work and hard work devoted to good causes of medicine and to health, in general, through the sports council and other bodies he worked for.

“He put no pressure on us (his children) to excel in sport. He thought it was something you needn’t do in a very serious way while you’re at primary or secondary school. But he was delighted to applaud results we had if we did choose to do something like that.

READ MORE: Sub-four fever as ultimate milestone approaches

“One of the things that is highly characteristic of him is he was just so interested in other people and their stories and how they got to where they were.

“As I go around Oxford, I find he has met so many people in different circumstances and everyone smiles and recollects their conversations with him. They talk about his enthusiasm, curiosity and optimism.”

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