In 1954, Roger Bannister did what most runners believed to be impossible. He became the first man to ever break the elusive barrier of the 4-minute mile. Sixty-one years later, NC State alumnus Sandy Roberts is helping budding runners match Bannister’s accomplishment while also building a stronger Raleigh community.
Robert’s collegiate running career ended at NC State in 2012, but Roberts was not ready to hang up his track shoes. During his collegiate career, Roberts had run the mile with times just mere seconds over the 4-minute mark. Roberts found himself as an emerging athlete, in between the status of a very good runner and an elite runner with sponsors.
“I was frustrated because I couldn’t get into major track meets because I was an emerging runner,” Roberts said. “So I decided to hold my own meet.”
One weekend in August 2013, Roberts and his brother Logan, a track coach at UNC-Chapel Hill, began to advertise on Facebook for a mile race that would be held the following Wednesday. They announced that Roberts would be going for a sub-4 mile. No one showed interest in joining the race, so Roberts planned to have his brother pace him for the first two laps of the mile and then finish the race alone. He expected just a few close friends and family to be spectators.
On the day of the race, Roberts arrived at the track of Raleigh’s Cardinal Gibbons High School to find 500 people waiting to watch him try to become the first person in North Carolina since 1974 to run a mile in under 4 minutes. Roberts made a strong attempt, but racing alone made an already arduous task even more challenging. Going into the last lap, Roberts was just one second off pace, but he ended the mile in 4 minutes and 6 seconds.
“I didn’t break the barrier, but I had a bunch of family and friends come out and support me,” Roberts said. “I knew that something special had happened. We decided we would do it again with more planning.”
Roberts, his brother and their friend, Pat Price, began to plan for the following year’s event. They decided that their event needed to be unique, unlike any other track meet. The race needs to celebrate the emerging athlete while also bringing together the Raleigh community. They named the race the Sir Walter Miler after Raleigh’s namesake Sir Walter Raleigh.
They began to raise money so they would be able to reward runners who broke the 4-minute barrier. They also made sure that fans would be able to watch directly on the track.
“We wanted the fans on the track to watch,” Roberts said. “We wanted them to really feel how fast the mile is. This way the fans get to be more part of the story, and the athletes get better support.”
The first Sir Walter Miler was held in August 2014 and was a tremendous success. More than 1,000 people lined the entire track at Meredith College to watch three men run the mile in under 4 minutes.
“We immediately realized that this event was something special,” Roberts said. “This was the beginning of a movement toward a unique kind of track event.”
While most track meets just recycle through fans, the Sir Walter Miler builds new running fans. Because the event mainly focuses on local Raleigh runners and because the race holds great pre and post-race parties at the Raleigh Brewing Company, many non-runners are drawn toward the race.
“A big thing about Raleigh is that we don’t recycle track and field fans,” Logan Roberts said. “We build new ones.”
The 2015 edition of the Sir Walter Miler was held on Aug. 7 at Meredith College. More than 2,000 fans attended the race. Five men were able to break the 4-minute mark and three women were able to break the 4 minute and 30 second mark.
One of the runners to break the barrier was Brandon Hudgins, who suffers from Wegener’s Granulomatosis, a rare autoimmune disease. Hudgins had always dreamed of running a sub-4 mile but was often discouraged because of the effect the disease had on his ability to train. The discouragement even caused Hudgins to give up on track two different times. However, at the Sir Walter Miler, Hudgins fulfilled his dream running a 3 minute and 59 second mile.
While Roberts still cannot boast his own sub-4 mile, he enjoys enabling runners like Hudgins to fulfill their dreams. Since his failed attempt in 2013, he has helped eight developing athletes run their first sub-4 miles, and he has helped a local Raleigh event gain national exposure. However, Roberts is still planning to get a sub-4 mile beside his own name.
“I’ve been on the brink so long,” Roberts said. “But If I’m honest, it just creates more motivation. It’s a huge barrier I want to conquer. It’s awesome to host the event, but now I want to get that barrier for myself. I want 3:59 beside my name.”
Five men were able to break the 4-minute mark and three women broke the 4 minute and 30 second mark. To celebrate these runners accomplishments, the fns and runners hold pre and post-race parties at the Raleigh Brewing Company.
