The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It | 
 enlarge | Author: Neal Bascomb
Publisher: Mariner Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Rating:  55 reviews
Sales Rank: 33517
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 344
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 0618562095
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.420922
EAN: 9780618562091
ASIN: 0618562095
Publication Date: April 6, 2005
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Product Description
There was a time when running the mile in four minutes was believed to be beyond the limits of human foot speed, and in all of sport it was the elusive holy grail. In 1952, after suffering defeat at the Helsinki Olympics, three world-class runners each set out to break this barrier. Roger Bannister was a young English medical student who epitomized the ideal of the amateur ? still driven not just by winning but by the nobility of the pursuit. John Landy was the privileged son of a genteel Australian family, who as a boy preferred butterfly collecting to running but who trained relentlessly in an almost spiritual attempt to shape his body to this singular task. Then there was Wes Santee, the swaggering American, a Kansas farm boy and natural athlete who believed he was just plain better than everybody else.
Spanning three continents and defying the odds, their collective quest captivated the world and stole headlines from the Korean War, the atomic race, and such legendary figures as Edmund Hillary, Willie Mays, Native Dancer, and Ben Hogan. In the tradition of Seabiscuit and Chariots of Fire, Neal Bascomb delivers a breathtaking story of unlikely heroes and leaves us with a lasting portrait of the twilight years of the golden age of sport.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 50 more reviews...
 I loved this book May 30, 2008
If you enjoy running and reading. This is an awesome story. I didnt want to put the book down.
 The perfect mile May 27, 2008
A very well written book on an extraordinary feat of running. I true page turner!
Makes you feel like you watched it happen March 7, 2008
I'm not a track fan, but this book was recommended to me as being very well written, and I have to agree completely. Following the story of these three men from very different backgrounds as they all strive to be the first to break a previously considered unbreakable human feat, you get a sense that you were there watching it transpire. Even though it's a recounting of historical events, the narrative is so compelling that you find yourself mentally urging on the runners as the races are described. After reading this book, I immediately got myself a copy of "Chariots of Fire". :-)
If you ever tried to break 5:00 in high school, you will love this book December 27, 2007
3 atheltes; 3 continents; 3 training methods; 1 goal.
Roger Bannister - trained by Franz Stamfl (heavily influenced Mihaly Igloy and the LATC). Emphasis on intensity and speed endurance. A meticulous athlete who believed in measurement and gradual improvement.
John Landy - trained by Percey Cerutty (Herb Elliott's coach). Emphasis on longer intervals and higher volume. Ran most of his races solo; talented and agressive.
Wes Santee - trained by Bill Easton (coach of Billy Mills). Old school methods. Heavy racing schedule. Santee was a gritty competitor who liked to race, and had little patience for the patronizing AAU.
The book details these three atheltes attempts to break the "unbreakable" barrier. A number of close attempts are described in agonizing detail, in particular Santee's 4:00.2
If you have ever tried to break any running "barrier" - 5:00 mile, 4:00 marathon, etc. you will understand how this text captures the solitary focus that envelopes a runner as s/he pursues a goal.
You'll Race Through This Book in a Four-Minute Mile October 1, 2007
The Perfect Mile takes the reader into the intimate worlds of three extraordinary men, all from diverse backgrounds and continents. Even though you're familiar that Roger Bannister eventually came out victorious as the first man to fun the mile in under four minutes, the drama and tension of the runners' race to become the first to break the barrier will keep you turning pages almost as fast as the men were running around the track.
Without divulging too much, I will say that near the book's end, when two of the three men are racing in the 1956 "Mile of the Century," the other runner, who because of military obligations is not able to participate, is masterfully woven into the race, almost as if he were actually racing--how he would have run that race, how he would have positioned himself among the two others, and how he possibly would have won the race.
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