THE man who ran the 'miracle mile' while a student at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, watched winners Imperial race home in the third IDEA league sports event 2003.

Team captains Thorsten Unyer, rowing; Anna Steiner, women's football; Jurg Klingelfuss, men's football and Melanie Kunz, ultimate frisbee enjoy refreshments at 170 Queen's Gate with Sir Roger Bannister, centre

Sir Roger Bannister, who ran the first sub-four-minute mile - 3:59.4 - at Oxford on 6 May 1954, explained the art of record breaking at the time as: "the ability to take more out of yourself than you've got."

Around 50 students from around Europe tried to do just that during the five kilometre race in Hyde Park on 18 June which featured teams from Imperial, Aachen, RWTH, Delft and ETH Zurich. The two day event, hosted by Imperial, tested prowess in a variety of sports, including rowing, football and ultimate frisbee.

At an evening reception, Sir Roger, who entered St Mary's Hospital Medical School as a clinical student on an Open and State Scholarship in 1951 and qualified as a doctor in 1954, remembered: "It was a lovely hospital and medical school. In those days, it was small enough for everyone to know each other - I met Sir Alexander Fleming when he was a teacher.

"I'm still a believer that medical students should do as much sport as they can which is why I'm glad to be here today. In the post war world, if you had this wish to do something, it was translated into climbing Everest. In my case, it was the four-minute mile. It was a tradition. However, there is a vast difference between Olympic sport and ordinary sport."

Sir Roger was a consultant neurologist at St Mary's Hospital and the Western Ophthalmic Hospital from 1963 to 1985 and subsequently consulting neurologist. He also chaired St Mary's Hospital Medical Committee from 1983 to 1985 and has been a trustee of the St Mary's Development Trust since 1994 and its Chairman since 1998.

"Many students don't have the time to train. They want fun and companionship and to do things with their friends, which I fully understand. In my day, everybody thought they could do anything and universities had a reputation for miling, which was repeated in the late 1970s when there was another burst with Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram."

The IDEA League was set up to create a European equivalent of the American Ivy League.

A sporting time for all
IMPERIAL won the running and came joint first overall with ETH Zurich, scoring 16 points.

The rowing proved successful for the women's coxed four crew from Delft who beat Imperial in the final, and, in an incredibly close finish, the Imperial men's eights crew beat Delft by half a metre.

At Harlington sports ground, teams took part in women's and men's football, as well as ultimate Frisbee which was won by Aachen.

In the men's football tournament, Zurich beat Aachen 3-1 on penalties in the final. In the women's 5-a-side football competition, Zurich beat Aachen in the final.

Trophies were presented by the rector and president of the IDEA league, Sir Richard Sykes.