British Milers Club and Lagan Valley AC Meet supported by Belfast City Marathon

The meeting, which was headlined as the 70th Anniversary of the first sub four-minute mile by Roger Bannister in 1954, saw athletes from all over the British Isles, Ireland and further afield take part in a full range of Track and Field events. Despite a far from positive forecast the weather remained kind throughout the day with scores of, the over 350, competitors achieving lifetime best performances.

The endurance events from 800 metres to 3000 metres attracted the biggest entry with ten 800 metres, two 1500 metres, four 3000 metres and seven one mile races thrilling the large crowd of athletics aficionados present at the track and thousands of others watching throughout the World on the live stream provided by Vinco. The feature event was not surprisingly the one mile and as the seven races got progressively faster spectators began to believe that the 23 gap since the mythical barrier was last broken in Northern Ireland could be a possibility.

As it happened the race did more than live up to expectations with Max Wharton of Sale Harriers, Manchester crossing the line in under four minutes with four others achieving the feat on his heels including Callum Morgan who joined the select group of 15 athletes from Northern Ireland in the Sub 4 club.  British Milers Club Chairman Tiim Brennan, who had flown over from England especially for the meeting, expressed his delight at the performances achieved throughout the day and expressed his determination that the British Milers would return next year.

The success of the meeting was a tribute to the hard work put in by the organisers and officials on the day, especially the electronic timing team who, for the first time in Northern Ireland, set up two cameras to provide the milers not only with times for that event but with an official split time at 1500 metres. Such a meeting is of course an expensive event to deliver, and the organisers were delighted with the assistance provided by the Belfast City Marathon as part of their commitment to endurance running in Northern Ireland. 

Belfast City Marathon were proud supporters of the event and congratulate all those who took part. For those with an appetite for longer distance, entries are now open for the 2025 Belfast City Marathon (Sunday 4th May) and Belfast City Half Marathon (Sunday 21st September). You can secure your spot at the start line now at www.belfastcitymarathon.com