Roger Bannister running track

The Roger Bannister running track, also known as the Oxford University track, is a 400-metres athletics running track and stadium in Oxford, England. It was where Sir Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile on 6 May 1954, when it was known as the Iffley Road track. The track is owned and operated by the University of Oxford.HistoryIn 1867, the University of Oxford built a grass track 536m round at Marston Road Sports Grounds. It was built on clay and often flooded, or became unusable due to the wet conditions. The university later decided to build a new running track at Iffley Road. Building work began on the one-third of a mile (536 metres) track in September 1876 by the contractor Mr Hobdell. The ground was leased from Christ Church. The building work was finished two days before the first meeting, on 29–30 November 1876.In 1948, Roger Bannister, then a 19-year-old student at Exeter College, was elected President of Oxford University’s Athletic Club. He made it a prime aim of his presidency to replace the bumpy, uneven track with a new six-lane 440yard track. Two years later, in 1950, the new 440 yards track was refurbished and was opened by John Lowe, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Since 1950, the running track has been modernised on several occasions. In 1976 work started on the track to convert the track to a synthetic track, and it opened on 4 May 1977, and was again resurfaced in 1989.