Steve Prefontaine is the man who started the new era of competitive running. Pre, Steve Prefontaine, started this all back in high school. He attended Marshfield High in Oregon. He then went on to win nine NCAA track races. Later, he went to the University of Oregon and proved to be the black sheep in the pack. Nobody could ever touch him. At one time, he had all of the American collegiate track records from the 2 km to the 10 km. Pre died at age 24, not even reaching his prime yet. Pre was kept alive in everyone’s hearts, whether it was an annual track meet in his honor or his most famous quote, "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."
Roger Bannister was born in Hallow, London. He grew up as a small child being told he could never be able to do anything with his life, just work in the family name. Bannister soon went off to senior high and college and proved to be a favorite in the mile. He set a new world record of 4:02.13. That just wasn’t good enough for him. At this time, no human being had run under four minutes for the mile, something that was thought absurd and the human body just couldn’t accomplish something that drastic. That thought was not in Roger Bannister’s head at all meet held in Oxford against Oxford University. In 1954, the sixth day of May, Bannister broke four minutes and ran an amazing 3:59.4. His time was broken just forty-six days later. Bannister was considered the first human being on Earth to run a mile under four minutes.
In conclusion, Prefontaine and Bannister were both outstanding runners in two different perspectives; Pre dominated in the longer races while Bannister conquered the sub-four minute mile. Early in both of their careers, they had no motivation from family. Both held track records at one time in their lives. Pre died at a very early age and Bannister is still alive today. Prefontaine and Bannister will always be two of the men included in the hall of fame of the running world.
