"I was not much use at conventional games but did enjoy running with only modest success. My academic skill was in Mathematics. After two years' National Service I came to Lincoln College, matriculating in 1953. In the three years no one in college read Maths, so I never indulged in talking shop. However, at that time Lincoln was strong in athletics and running - we won the Cross Country Cuppers in '53 and '54. A contemporary of mine was Derek Johnson. On that evening [6th May 1954 - Bannister sub4min mile] he won both the 220yds and 440yds. I too was part of a group at the Iffley Road that evening. Later that year Derek took Gold at the Empire Games in Vancouver, in a record time in the Half Mile; at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics it was Silver in the 800m. Heady times indeed."

Please do give Roger's recollection of 6 May 1954 a read. It is a fascinating and wonderful read dedicated to his late friend Brian who he watch the 1954 race with.

The Elite Women's 800m race at Iffley Festival of Miles 2013

Ever wondered about the genesis of Bannister Miles? Huge thanks to Chris McGurk– Club Captain in 2009-10 – for this absorbing account of the event’s early years:

"The idea of setting up the Iffley Miles first occurred to me in 2011. The OUAC President had sweet-talked me into being Fixtures Secretary, which turned out to be more work than anticipated, but more interesting too. I learned how to host an athletics meeting (who knew the starter has to have a firearms license, as the starter's pistol is classed as a real gun?) and ended up with plenty of contacts amongst the local athletics officials network."

Varsity at Shotover

I believe it was a Wednesday afternoon or roundabout then, and we had the club photos scheduled for 1pm. We usually had a lunchtime run scheduled for Wednesdays at 1pm, so instead postponed the steady run to 4:30pm or so, assuming that the photos did not over-run, which they did not.

As 1pm coincided with lunchtime, a few of us decided to go to the Pizza Hut all you can eat buffet lunch, in theory for a light lunch, before regrouping at 4:30pm. However, the men, being men, got rather competitive and decided to eat as many slices of pizza as they possibly could. Two members (both very fast runners, I might add), made it to 17 pieces and at that stage, the clock was closing in on 4pm. One of them was the Club Captain, so was somehow setting the example.

I opted for a salad (which was probably not enough - oh the contrast and stupidity), and we ended up meeting at 4:30pm and running to the Cuppers course and back. A few stitches, walk/sprints and lots of laughs were had along the way, and one great chap ended up walking home, but at least he won the pizza eating competition and we did wait for him at the Rad Cam to check he was ok.

It was a fun afternoon, which had me in stitches. It was one of many very fun occasions - don’t get me started on the beer mile and the swap for vodka/wine (not achieved by myself though, although I still admire the friend, who did). He (David Taylor) is now running faster than when we were at uni and recently ran a 2:30 or so marathon. I was and still am too much of a lightweight to compete in the category, so arbitraged instead. He won, but technically didn’t drink beer, yet went for a more difficult option and decided to stay at ours that evening, just in case he fell off his bike on the way back home. Great call and a great afternoon.

The hip bath photograph was taken after the Oxford-Cambridge race in 1968 by Ed Lacy, a very well known sports photographer who somehow infiltrated his way into the changing room after the race. It was published in the Daily Mirror and another hip bath photo of three Cambridge runners made it into the Sunday Times. At that time, the varsity match was hosted by the Thames Hare and Hounds club as it had been since 1898. Their headquarters was at the King’s Head pub in Roehampton, hence the start and finish point of the match course. The changing room was upstairs in an annexe to the pub which according to the annals of the club published on its 100^thanniversary in 1968 had been used since around 1900. It was approached by an external wooden staircase. The hip baths were of similar vintage and were attended by a “bath boy” who would bring buckets of hot water to refill each bath on change of occupant.

Thames H&H was solely a cross country running club and generously hosted not only the changing accommodation but a post match dinner for the university teams which was incorporated into the club’s annual dinner and held in the rather daunting surroundings of one of the major London “Gentlemen’s” Clubs. In the dinners I attended in 1966-8 it was at the RAC club in Pall Mall. (Still the only occasions when I have entered such hallowed premises).

One of the rather quirky features of the evening was that several of the runners' names would be encrypted in crossword fashion into items on the menu. This tradition also appeared to date from the Edwardian era. The university captains were expected to make short speeches which could take the edge off their enjoyment of the meal.

I believe that the hip bath tradition ended when a fire engulfed the building housing the changing rooms a few years later and more conventional changing areas were found. I do not know if and when the post match arrangements changed.

Having had my memory jogged by your request - a couple more brief reminiscences come to mind.

1. For our pre-season training camp a group of keen runners made their way to the coast of S Wales and the fearsome sand dunes of Merthyr Mawr (between Cardiff and Swansea). The highlight of the day was the session of repeat ascents of the "Big Dipper" which Google now informs me is the second tallest dune in Europe. It certainly felt like it. The other memory is of peeling and mashing enough potatoes every night to feed the group, very hungry after the day's exertions - we stayed in fairly primitive self catering accommodation.
2. In 1970 we had a very strong team available and Oxford were the winning team in the BUSF championship (see Hugh Starkey's note). Tony Moore and myself were both selected for the British team at the FISU world university event in Bern in Switzerland which the British team also won. We both finished just ahead of a young lad from the new university of Sussex, one Brendan Foster.

Reading the reports from my contemporaries and attending the celebrations in May last year made me realise how in so many ways the period of the late sixties/early seventies was a time of transition. Of course the colleges then were all strictly single sex institutions, women were hugely under-represented and it might have been difficult to find a women's team even if the idea had been raised which I regret it wasn't. In athletics there were still traces of the "Chariots of Fire" era - wonderful film but with under currents of elitism and privilege. New technology too - running shoes were becoming much lighter and whilst when I ran in the Oxford Cambridge track athletics in 1969 it was on cinders at the White City, in 1972 when I ran again (eligibility rules having just changed) it was on a tartan track at Crystal Palace. It was very refreshing to see a much more "normal" gathering last May.