WILL THE STATE OF MISSOURI SEE ITS FIRST SUB 4 MILE TONIGHT!!?!?!

1000 bucks for first place, they must have been able to get at least a few more guys who have run under 4. Thats a good chunk of change

well,

for my part, i just want to say thanks to ben, matt, brian, and all the big river guys for putting a first class event for a good cause.

thanks,

stl m c

SLUH's track is only three years old. This was their first time using their new FinishLynx timing system that went off without a hitch.

The weather was definitely a factor as the rabbit came through in 2:00, but the pace dropped off on the third lap. Doherty made a push for the lead with 250 to go, but Neville made a push with 150 to go and caught Doherty going into the final straightaway.

Neville's actual time was 4:08 followed by Tommy Schmitz, then Jordan Fife, followed by Jeremy Doherty. Doherty's time was a 4:09. Boldan was a late scratch and did not race as was Marcus Mayes and Tim Dunne.

This was a great event with a lot of money raised for the Schutzman family. Congratulations to all who were involved with a great event.

Triviata wrote:

MO, St.Louis 3:56.7 m Dyrol Burleson 22 Jun 63

Well given that was June 22 1963, I have to think that was outdoor. Plus what in the world were they thinking having a sub four attempt in St.louis in April. You know the weather is going to suck. But hey Neville Miller picked up a cool thousand bucks for winning a slow tactical race.

It was a fund raiser. Going sub 4 would have been been great but really thats not what the night was about even if it was hyped that way.

It was very exciting race even though they were off 4min pace by 800.

It was very cool to see how much Neville has improved since high school.

Thomas

Thomas wrote:

It was a fund raiser. Going sub 4 would have been been great but really thats not what the night was about even if it was hyped that way.

It was very exciting race even though they were off 4min pace by 800.

It was very cool to see how much Neville has improved since high school.

Thomas

Thomas you know that the only reason that race was put together in the first place was so Ben Rosario might have a chance at going sub 4. Then Ben couldn't get himself training with the second store opening and someone thought it would be a good idea for a fund raiser. Which no one is arguing. But at least 50 % of the people who showed up were both misinformed and deceived into think A) it would be the first sub 4 ever run in Missouri B) then later on that it would be the first outdoors in Missouri. Neither of which was true. A great cause yes. Somewhat of a scam for a great cause also yes.

TO

This isnt even worth my time to give a lengthy response

Brother Colm,

Last night was an awesome event. People came to see Brigette and to raise money for her family. They also came to see a 4 minute mile attempt. They would have come whether it was the first sub 4 in Missouri ever or the first in 45 years. We researched all the track records in Missouri, called Sports Information directors and picked the brains of several Missouri track buffs and couldn't find an outdoor sub 4. We knew all along that there had been an indoor sub 4 and never advertised differently.

I only respond because this event was very important to a lot of people and I pored every ounce of energy I had into putting this event together. For anyone to try and mislead people who might be reading this into thinking that some aspect of this event was a scam is very hurtful to me personally and to all of the SLU community that came together to put this event on for Brigette.

Obviously for those who were there they know all these things already but just in case there was any confusion I wanted to clear it up.

Thanks so much,

Ben Rosario

Leave it to the letsrun message board trolls to try and ruin an outstanding event. I was in attendance and came because it was going to be a good race. Given the wind conditions I did not think a sub 4 was possible and knew this before I paid my $5. Geez Brother Colm did you really feel mislead or do just have an axe to grind.

For future reference, try google. It took me all of 5 seconds to find Burleson's outdoor sub four in St Louis, MO. http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~rsparks/sub4-ven.htm

Brother Colm nice dig its easy to talk trash behind a fake name. Your post is sad. Your beef with Ben should not get in in the way of what was done for Bridget and her family.

I hope you fell better about yourself.

Thomas

it does smell like a scam

how is it a scam. they brought in a bunch of guys with pr's under or close to 4 minutes for the mile, paid $1000 to the winner with a $1000 prime for breaking 4, and raised money for a girl to help pay her medical bills. So what if 4 minutes had been broken in MO before, I'm sure that no one that was there was at that race. I believe they had a camera set up at the 1500 to give these guys a shot at qualifying for the trials. So what part of this is a scam? It seems like it was an all around great opportunity for all party's involved. I hope they put this race on again next year, maybe for a scholarship fund or something. The Stl Post Dispatch aslo did a great job covering the event, as did letsrun.

The posts claiming this event was a scam are ridiculous. Talking about searching for something to criticize - this all sounds a little bit personal.

I was at the event. It very well run, and (I think) everyone's first purpose for being there was to raise money for a severely injured young lady. There was no "guarantee" of a sub-4 mile; it was only advertised as an attempt. The pace setter went out on pace, but the weather didn't cooperate, and the guys didn't break it. So what. As far as whether or not this would have been the first sub-4 in Missouri if the runners had done it, the guys at Big River Running made legitimate attempts to establish that fact (I don't necessarily think "googling" is one - I don't believe everything I read on the internet). The one and only sub-4 in Missouri was in 1963 at an AAU championship. It's no wonder no one remembered it. I, for one, would love to see this become an annual event, although I know it must have been a lot of work. It gave some local runners a chance to run in fast mile in their hometown, and it gave us the chance to see them compete.

Good job Ben!

So what. As far as whether or not this would have been the first sub-4 in Missouri if the runners had done it, the guys at Big River Running made legitimate attempts to establish that fact (I don't necessarily think "googling" is one - I don't believe everything I read on the internet).

Stl Gal , it doesn't appear that anyone is trying to criticize where the money went to only the whole idea of billing it as the first sub outdoors in the state of Missouri. To claim that they did legitimate attempts is almost comical when you can find out in five seconds on the internet that it was done at an AAU championship. True you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet. But if you googled that and found out it was at an AAU championship it would be easy enough to go to the library and look it up. good job Ben on putting on the meet. poor job for researching and billing.

Don't believe any of the following link, I made the whole thing up:http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~rsparks/sub4-ven.htm

July 01, 1963

Our Swiftest Are The Best Anywhere

After two days of competition, the U.S. came up with a world-beating team in the nationals in St. Louis

The best U.S. track team in history was selected in St. Louis last week in an AAU championship meet marked by a remarkable series of hairbreadth finishes, considerable psychological warfare and the first hint that track and field may soon be facing a kind of moral crisis of its own. The team, crisis or no, definitely will face Russia's finest in Moscow at the end of July.

Bob Hayes, the burly Florida A&M sprinter who runs as if he should have a football tucked under his arm, broke a world record by running a semifinal heat of the 100-yard dash over the rubberized macadam track in 9.1 seconds. This was one of the few races in which no thought was given to strategy and tactics. Hayes simply burst out of the starting blocks with his usual enormous explosion of awkward energy, flailing his arms and moving along faster and faster until he had left the field behind. Hayes, who happens to be a good football player, is a senior at Florida A&M. Before Saturday's 100 he and Ray Saddler, a junior quarter-miler at Texas Southern University, had been approached by officials of the Southern California Striders, a track club in Los Angeles coached by Chuck Coker, who wanted both to transfer to Los Angeles State College and, in the off season, run for the Striders. Dick Hill, the new track coach at Florida A&M, and Stanley Wright, the old coach at Texas Southern, protested vehemently and justifiably. Hayes decided to finish out his eligibility at Florida A&M, while Saddler, younger and more impressionable, is still vacillating. He will talk to his mother before he decides what to do. He should, of course, stay at Texas Southern and put an abrupt end to the first case of proselytizing by a track club in this country.

Saddler, possibly confused by the ethical problems, finished fourth in the 440, a race won by bespectacled Ulis Williams, not so much because of his speed (which is formidable) but because of a psychological lift he had gotten from beating Adolph Plummer, the world record holder, in Compton, Calif, three weeks ago. Earlier Williams had run second to Plummer when the New Mexico University senior set the pending record in 44.9 seconds.

"We came off the last turn in that race, and I saw him so far in front I practically stopped and threw up my hands in surprise," Williams said last week in St. Louis. "Then at Compton, the same thing. I came off the last turn, there he was way out, but I just kicked as hard as I could and I said to myself, 'He's got to be tired.' And he came back to me. So this time when I came off the turn and saw him out there, running very smooth, I said, 'I know he's tired. He'll come back.' And he did."

Plummer ran his first 220 in 21 plus, but Williams, with his newfound confidence, did not try to stay with him, trusting in his own superior finish to win the race. His time (45.8) tied the national AAU record.

Tom O'Hara, a wispy, bone-thin 20-year-old junior from Loyola University in Chicago (SI, March 18), seems a year behind Williams in experience. Until the AAU championships O'Hara had never tested himself against a field of world-class milers, and he entertained a rather reasonable doubt of his ability to match the big runners' rush for the tape. He should suffer no such doubt any longer.

Actually, Jim Beatty, the favorite, was almost eliminated in the trial heats on Friday. He qualified easily enough, but he had been suffering from a sore right leg. In favoring the leg on Friday, he made the left leg sore, too, so that on Saturday, when the big field swirled into the final desperate sprint for the tape, the acceleration Beatty has always enjoyed was lacking and he finished a tired and limping fourth.

The race was won by Dyrol Burleson, the 23-year-old ex-Oregon University miler who is now an insurance salesman and who will not make the trip to Moscow with the American team because of business commitments. Burleson ran an intelligent, strong race that reflected the wide experience he has gained in world competition. He stayed behind the fast tempo through three laps, content to keep in contact with the leaders while running on the pole and out of the heavy traffic.

It was Beatty who led through the first three laps. As the fourth lap began, the Marine Corps' Cary Weisiger moved into the lead. Entering the backstretch, Burleson began his bid. O'Hara was running on the pole, directly disobeying the good advice of his coach.

"We noticed how Snell always runs a little on the outside," O'Hara said later. "You have running room, and then you never get boxed out there. But I got in on the pole, and when Burleson started to move I couldn't go with him at first. Then I got out and came up to him as we came out of the turn, but he forced me outside all the way around. He's a very smart runner."

Lets get this straight, you knew that a sub 4 had been run in Missouri. Now is it because you dislike Ben you don't step up and say, "hey ben, in 64 it was done"? Or do you wait till after the event so you can come on letsrun and trash on him?

I am just trying to make sure everyone who reads this knows what kind of person you are, and with that I am finished with you.

Thomas

Dude, Brother Colm, you're a shithead. Seriously...