Mile Trivia

• The record for running a mile backward is 6:02.35, by D. Joseph James of India on August 10, 2002.

• Based on the world 1500m record of 1:46.43, a world champion speedskater can cover a mile in about 1:55, a champion rollerskater in about 2:25.

• Based on the world 1500m record of 14:34.56, a freestyle swimmer should be able to complete a mile in about 15:44, about the same time as a fitness walker.

• The world record for a mile by a race horse is 1:32.1.

• If world-class sprinters were able to maintain top speed for a full mile, they would cover a mile in 2:16 to 2:17.

• The fastest any human has covered a mile without mechanical aid is 19.45 seconds. That is based on the 185 miles-per-hour reached in a free fall from a plane. At the other extreme, the last mile up Mt. Everest has been known to take a week or longer.

• A "country mile" is a distance that seems a lot longer than a Roman mile. No one has yet broken four minutes for a country mile.

• Roger Bannister did not run the first four-minute mile.  An exact 4:00.00 was first achieved on September 3, 1958 by England's Derek Ibbotson in a fourth-place finish behind Herb Elliott at White City.