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Friday, September 20, 2024

Throwback—Kenya’s Mike Boit runs 3:28 highway mile

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Within the age of tremendous footwear and ridiculous one-mile instances, one man’s highway mile from 1983 has aged like wonderful wine. When 1972 Olympic 800m medallist Mike Boit of Kenya pulled as much as the 1983 Molenberg Mile in Auckland, New Zealand, he threw down a ridiculous time of three minutes and 28 seconds, a time runners haven’t come near within the current period.

The Molenberg Mile course was a tad downhill, with round 200 metres of elevation loss from the highest of Queen Road to Auckland’s harbour. It will be equal to descending virtually half of Toronto’s CN Tower. 

Though Boit’s time is likely one of the quickest mile instances ever by a human, downhill highway miles are usually not eligible for information. Most world-class middle-distance runners dream of breaking 3:30 within the 1,500m, however on this loopy race, three males went below 3:30 for the mile. Olympians Steve Scott of the U.S. was second in 3:29.44, and Ray Flynn of Eire completed third in 3:29.66.

The elevation of the Molenburg Mile course. Photograph: Strava

Boit had a legendary monitor and subject profession, as the principle rival of British Olympic champion and now World Athletics president Seb Coe. He gained bronze within the 800m on the 1972 Olympics in Munich, in a race higher recognized for the well-known last-to-first comeback kick by U.S. Olympian Dave Wottle.

The world’s quickest downhill miler additionally had a fourth-place end within the 1,500m behind fellow legendary Kenyan runner Kipchoge Keino.

In the identical downhill race, Canada’s Brit McRoberts sprinted to a 4:03 mile to complete second, simply behind Christine Hughes of New Zealand, who gained the race in 4:02.93.

Hicham El Guerrouj
Hicham El Guerrouj (left) on the 2004 Athens Olympics

Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco is the present males’s mile report holder together with his time of three:43.13, whereas Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands holds the ladies’s mile report of 4:12.33. 

Because the Molenberg Mile was such a success within the early Eighties, the organizers determined to make a collection round this race with completely different venues and surfaces throughout New Zealand. Races had been held on the trotting monitor at Addington in Christchurch, the flat highway at Mount Maunganui, the seashore at Paraparaumu and the traditional downhill of Queen Road in Auckland. The collection got here to a halt in 1984. 

This race wants to return again into existence. 



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