Colorado Soil Mile Record - Hoping for a Sub-4 Mile ($6000 prize)

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It's going to take someone capable of 3:53.xx at sea level to do it.

We support and love this! Well done Mark Roberts and your St. Vrain Meet team.

http://bringbackthemile.com/history/sub_4_sub_430

Hoping for the best out there! Used to run this meet every year in HS and the elite race always got the high school kids amped!

that would be awesome if you could get the high school boys that have already dropped a sub 4 in there as well!

Some random dude wrote:

It's going to take someone capable of 3:53.xx at sea level to do it.

No, it's not.

Longmont is at 5000 feet. This is about as close to sea level as things get in Colorado.

coach deez nuts wrote:

Some random dude wrote:

It's going to take someone capable of 3:53.xx at sea level to do it.

No, it's not.

3:55 for sure

That might be the official record. However I witnessed Goucher run sub 4 in practice before beating Lagat in the 3000m at d1 Nationals. Help me out fellas, I wasn't the only one in attendance that day.

Sub-3:55 for sure. At a minimum.

Old man in Colorado wrote:

That might be the official record. However I witnessed Goucher run sub 4 in practice before beating Lagat in the 3000m at d1 Nationals. Help me out fellas, I wasn't the only one in attendance that day.

I'm calling troll on this one. Several things here. Why would Wetmore have Goucher run a *mile* in practice? Four laps? Maybe, but that's not a mile. Goucher was always a bit of a longer distance character than a miler. For him to drop a sub-4 in Boulder (roughly 5300 feet) would have garnered some serious attention, even if it was in practice. And, even if Chris Lear is there reporting four or five times as many expletives as actually were spoken, practice doesn't bring the sort of adrenaline an actual race does. Not even in Boulder. 20 years, give or take a year, of radio silence on such a feat suggests it didn't ever happen.

And, to respond to someone else in this thread, Longmont is nowhere near as close to sea level as you get in Colorado. There are several tracks at well under 4000 feet if you want to flirt with the borders of Kansas and Nebraska.

1 Abra Kiplagat Cheplaiti 4:05.76

2 Stephen Pifer 4:08.83

3 Blake Theroux 4:10.70

4 Mack McClain 4:15.99

5 John Raneri 4:16.95

6 Kurt Roeser 4:22.00

7 Jordan Jennings 4:23.51

8 Charles Hilig 4:25.00

9 Cody Martus 4:30.71

10 Tyler Mueller 4:31.73

Back in the day, all the tracks out in eastern CO were cinder. The lowest "larger" towns, Lamar, Las Animas and Julesburg were not exactly hotbeds of track and field historically La Junta and Rocky Ford and Sterling did have pretty good high school programs over the years, and possibly have rubberized asphalt tracks, as they have Junior Colleges nearby. The extra 500-1000 feet of elevation benefit I'm not sure would make up for the speed difference of a dirt track versus an all weather.

Nice job Blake Theroux

La junta has a good track with mile start line. That's where the current record was set.And yes, anybody trying to go sub 4 in Longmont needs to be sub 3:55 shape.

Old man in Colorado wrote:

That might be the official record. However I witnessed Goucher run sub 4 in practice before beating Lagat in the 3000m at d1 Nationals. Help me out fellas, I wasn't the only one in attendance that day.

No Adam did not run sub 4 minutes for a mile in practice in Boulder.

You mis understood and were not holding the watch...

Current modern tracks in Colorado on eastern plains include Holly, Lamar, Springfield, La Junta, Swink, Limon, Burlington, Yuma, Sterling, Holyoke, Akron, Brush, and Fort Morgan. All of these except Limon are at close to 4000 feet of elevation or lower.

ummmhmmmm wrote:

Current modern tracks in Colorado on eastern plains include Holly, Lamar, Springfield, La Junta, Swink, Limon, Burlington, Yuma, Sterling, Holyoke, Akron, Brush, and Fort Morgan. All of these except Limon are at close to 4000 feet of elevation or lower.

Yeah but who the heck would wanna drive down there?

Ihgth wrote:

ummmhmmmm wrote:

Current modern tracks in Colorado on eastern plains include Holly, Lamar, Springfield, La Junta, Swink, Limon, Burlington, Yuma, Sterling, Holyoke, Akron, Brush, and Fort Morgan. All of these except Limon are at close to 4000 feet of elevation or lower.

Yeah but who the heck would wanna drive down there?

Instead of focusing on the sub-4:00 mile "on Colorado soil," why not set it up to see if anyone can actually do it in Denver at a mile above sea level at a nice outdoor facility? That would be a truly impressive feat... Kind of crazy to think it's never been done, but, then again, it must be extremely difficult in rarified air.