Annual elite indoor mile race
The Wanamaker Mile is a prestigious indoor mile race for elite middle distance runners held annually at the Millrose Games in New York City. Among the world's premier mile races, it is the signature and concluding event of the games, and is named in honor of department store owner Rodman Wanamaker.[2]
The race is a tradition for Irish runners: past Irish winners include Ronnie Delany (1956–1959), Eamonn Coghlan (1977, '79–'81, '83, '85 and '87), Marcus O'Sullivan (1986, '88–'90 and 1992), Niall Bruton (1994 and 1996), and Mark Carroll (2000).[3]
It was at the Millrose Games that Coghlan earned the nickname "Chairman of the Boards" (from the surface of the track being made of wooden boards).[4] O'Sullivan has run 11 sub-four-minute miles in the Wanamaker.[5]
The Wanamaker Mile has been won by over 44[clarification needed] different men, including Glenn Cunningham, Kip Keino, Tony Waldrop, Filbert Bayi, Steve Scott, Noureddine Morceli, Bernard Lagat, Marcus O'Sullivan, Ron Delany, and Eamonn Coghlan.
History
The Millrose Games were first held in a local armory in 1908, being organized by the employees of the Wanamaker Department Store's New York City branch. The employees formed the recreational Millrose Athletic Association. "Millrose" was the name of the country home of Rodman Wanamaker in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania. When this local armory overflowed, the Millrose Games were moved to Madison Square Garden in 1914.
From 1916 to 1925, the games' signature event was the 1.5 mile run. In 1925, the last edition of the "Wanamaker 1.5 Mile Race" was won by "Flying Finn" Paavo Nurmi, the nine-time Olympic gold medalist from Finland.
In 1926, the race was shortened to one mile, and thus the Wanamaker Mile was born.[6] The winner of the 1926 race was James J. Connolly, who had represented the United States at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics.[7]
In the 1929 Wanamaker, American athlete Ray Conger became the first and only athlete to defeat and upset "Flying Finn" Paavo Nurmi in the mile. Although Conger was modest about his win, he would be known as "the man who beat Nurmi" for decades.[8][9][10][11]
The first time the Wanamaker Mile was won in a sub-four minute time was by American athlete Tony Waldrop in 1974, in 3:59.7.
The first women's race for the Wanamaker was held in 1982, and was won by Mary Decker.[12]
The Wanamaker was once held every year at 10:00 p.m., a tradition started by the legendary sports announcer Ted Husing. Husing would broadcast the race live during the nightly news. In 2002, the mile was moved to 9 p.m. to accommodate television coverage.[13]
Madison Square Garden, which possessed a 146-meter track,[14] was the venue for the race until 2012, when it was moved to the Armory in Upper Manhattan,[15] a much faster 200-meter track.[16]
Accompanying this venue change, the Millrose Games and therefore the Wanamaker Mile shifted from a Friday evening format to an all-day Saturday format.[17]
By 2018, the start time had been moved to late afternoon when it was nationally televised live on NBC.[18]
In 2019, Yomif Kejelcha won the Wanamaker in 3:48.46 to miss Hicham El Guerrouj's then-world record by just one hundredth of a second. Kejelcha would later go on to shatter El Guerrouj's indoor mile world record by almost 1.5 seconds at the Bruce Lehane Invitational in Boston, with a time of 3:47.01.[19]
The 2024 edition of the Wanamaker Mile at the 116th Millrose Games was held on Super Bowl Sunday (February 11), at 2:42 pm (women) and 2:53 pm (men).[20]
Records
In 2010, Bernard Lagat surpassed Eamonn Coghlan's record of seven Wanamaker Mile victories with his eighth victory.[23] Prior to Coghlan, Glenn Cunningham was among the first men to dominate the event, winning six out of seven Wanamaker Miles from 1933 to 1939.[24]
Mary Decker, Doina Melinte and Regina Jacob are all tied for most Wanamaker victories on the women's side, with three wins each.[25]
The current men's event record in the Wanamaker Mile is held by American athlete Yared Nuguse, who ran an American record time of 3:47.38 in the 2023 Wanamaker, missing Ethiopian athlete Yomif Kejelcha's 2019 indoor mile world record of 3:47.01 by .37 seconds. In 2024, Nuguse defended his title (3:47.83), but did not run faster than he did in 2023.[26][27]
The current women's event record in the Wanamaker Mile was set in 2024 by American athlete Elinor Purrier, with a time of 4:16.41, also the American record. Purrier had eclipsed her previous 2020 American record time of 4:16.85.[28][29]
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