Santee is remembered as a world-class runner who fell just short. History relegates John Landy to the 2nd man under four, pushing Bannister from across the globe. When he arrived in Finland, he heard he was too late. He had run 4:02.0 and was on his way to Finland where he could take advantage of the better-manicured tracks, competition, and perhaps even a rabbit or two that would be available in Europe. ![]() Variety must not have been Landy’s strong point. From July 21st, 1953 to October 1st, 1953, he completed over 700 x 600-yard repeats, averaging 10×600 yard intervals with 600-yard jog recoveries every single day. ![]() John Landy, on the other hand, spent his time training and competing in Australia, increasing his training load to a level that was completely unfathomable to Bannister. Even though, under the table payments occurred frequently to attract the top talent to meets) (Track and field was considered Amateur sport during that time period, so if you were paid, they’d boot you out. Shortly after, Santee’s own dream of running under 4 was dashed as he was banned for violating amateur rules for accepting a little over $1,000 from meet promoters on a racing trip to Europe. By the time his collegiate career was over and Santee would be in control of his career, Bannister had achieved the impossible. In other words, Santee was in shape to go under four, but he was wasting his fitness on team relays, instead of targeting history. At the Texas Relays, he ran relay splits of 1:47.7 and 4:05. At a meet in Berkeley, he ran 48.0 for 440 yards, 1:51.4 for 880 yards and 4:05.5 for a mile, all on the same weekend. The collegiate season meant running two or three races almost every weekend. In other words, he had had both sides of the equation, speed and endurance. He also possessed equal endurance as an NCAA cross-country champion and Olympian over 5,000 meters in 1952. He was much faster, splitting an astonishing 47.4 for 440 yards and running 1:48 for 800m compared to Bannister’s 1:50 best. On paper, Santee appeared the better candidate. As does his own words “I was the workingest kid you ever saw, and one skinny, strong SOB.” His high school proclamation that he would soon set the world record demonstrates this nicely. But the true story is more interesting and contrasts nicely with why Santee didn’t achieve his goals.īy all accounts, Santee was a brash and confident runner. The tweet-worthy version attributes it to Bannister realizing he could breakthrough. ![]() The sound bite version of history proclaims that Bannister won the chase to break the barrier via a combination of belief and precision-like execution of a task. In other words, Santee, a man who was in a 3-way chase to become remembered as the ultimate barrier breaker, never actually broke the barrier. Santee did not go on to run a world record in the mile, though he did in the 1,500m (3:42.8). Where did it come from? Wes Santee, the Kansas miler, wrote it in his high school yearbook in 1950. With the passing of Sir Roger Bannister, who in 1954 became the first man to run a mile in under 4 minutes, we know the quote above is false. ![]() “Wes Santee has recently broken the world mile record in the time of 3:58.3, and it should stand for many years to come.” -1950
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