1. the statue honouring Britain’s Roger Bannister and Australia’s John Landy

Back in August we participated in a fun run over at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE). The family run had the carnies out lining the route inside the closed PNE to cheer runners on (very Twin Peaks-ish) and the aide stations featured carnival fare like: mini donuts and cotton candy. All very strange but fun.

The run started and finished inside Empire Stadium. Empire Stadium was built for the 1954 British Empire (now Commonwealth) Games and is perhaps most famous for the “Miracle Mile” run when Roger Bannister and John Landy becames the first two people to run a sub-four-minute mile in the same race. For comparison sake, the current World Record for the mile is held by Hicham El Guerrouj at 3:43.13.

The stadium is also known as the site of Elvis Presley’s 1957 concert, which was his last outside of the USA, and The Beatles 1964 concert that lasted all of 20 minutes before they dashed to their limos followed by 32,000 fans.

2) a quiet Empire Field start line

3) … suddenly filled with umpteen runners

4) off we go!

5) donuts!

6) the PNE host the Bealtes exhibit this year

7) remember this car from the Beatles….