2016 FloTrack Beer Mile World ChampionshipsNov 30, 2016 by Gordon Mack
The Sub-5:00 Beer Mile Is Pretty Similar To The Sub-4:00 Mile
The Sub-5:00 Beer Mile Is Pretty Similar To The Sub-4:00 Mile
The Aftermath Of The Sub 5:00 Beer Mile vs The Sub 4:00 Mile
On May 27th, 2014, James Nielsen broke the five minute beer mile. Until then, the idea of running a sub-5 mile with four beers in your stomach was unthinkable. The feat went viral and even garnered skeptics--check out the comments on our original post. But two years later, the "unthinkable" has been repeated 14 more times by eight more people.
Sometimes it takes one person to simply make the "unthinkable" possible for others. Running--even in between chugging beers--is an incredibly mental sport. Breaking five minutes in the beer mile wasn't that hard after all, as eight more people did it in the 2+ years after Nielsen broke the barrier.
The spike in sub-five minute beer miles is similar to the deluge of sub-four miles after Roger Bannister dipped under on May 6th, 1954. Within 27 months of Bannister becoming the first person in the history of the planet to break four, eight more people had broken four minutes a total of fifteen times.
Check out this graph and notice the similar trend in performances.
Mark | Athlete | Country | Date | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4:57.00 | James Nielsen | USA | 05/27/14 |
2 | 4:56.20 | Josh Harris | AUS | 08/07/15 |
3 | 4:55.78 | Lewis Kent | CAN | 08/08/15 |
4 | 4:54.38 | Corey Gallagher | CAN | 10/10/15 |
5 | 4:51.90 | Lewis Kent | CAN | 11/17/15 |
6 | 4:48.62 | Corey Gallagher | CAN | 12/01/15 |
7 | 4:47.17 | Lewis Kent | CAN | 12/01/15 |
8 | 4:59.70 | Lewis Kent | CAN | 07/03/16 |
9 | 4:55.53 | Phil Parrot-Migas | CAN | 07/03/16 |
10 | 4:54.50 | Garrett Cullen | USA | 07/09/16 |
11 | 4:47.72 | Brandon Shirck | USA | 07/17/16 |
12 | 4:39.56 | Corey Bellemore | CAN | 07/28/16 |
13 | 4:34.35 | Corey Bellemore | CAN | 07/31/16 |
14 | 4:47.39 | Dale Clutterbuck | GBR | 07/31/16 |
15 | 4:49.28 | Brandon Shirck | USA | 07/31/16 |
Sometimes it takes one person to simply make the "unthinkable" possible for others. Running--even in between chugging beers--is an incredibly mental sport. Breaking five minutes in the beer mile wasn't that hard after all, as eight more people did it in the 2+ years after Nielsen broke the barrier.
The spike in sub-five minute beer miles is similar to the deluge of sub-four miles after Roger Bannister dipped under on May 6th, 1954. Within 27 months of Bannister becoming the first person in the history of the planet to break four, eight more people had broken four minutes a total of fifteen times.
Mark | Athlete | Country | Date | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3:59.4 | Roger Bannister | GBR | 05/06/54 |
2 | 3:57.9 | John Landy | AUS | 06/21/54 |
3 | 3:59.6 | John Landy | AUS | 08/07/54 |
4 | 3:58.8 | Roger Bannister | GBR | 08/07/54 |
5 | 3:59.8 | Brian Hewson | GBR | 05/28/55 |
6 | 3:59.8 | Chris Chataway | GBR | 05/28/55 |
7 | 3:59.0 | Láslzó Tábori | HUN | 05/28/55 |
8 | 3:58.6 | John Landy | AUS | 01/28/56 |
9 | 3:58.6 | John Landy | AUS | 04/07/56 |
10 | 3:58.6 | Jim Bailey | AUS | 05/05/56 |
11 | 3:58.7 | John Landy | AUS | 05/05/56 |
12 | 3:59.1 | John Landy | AUS | 05/12/56 |
13 | 3:59.1 | John Landy | AUS | 06/01/56 |
14 | 3:59.0 | Ron Delany | IRL | 06/01/56 |
15 | 3:59.4 | Derek Ibbotson | GBR | 08/06/56 |
16 | 3:59.0 | Istvan Rózsavölgyi | HUN | 08/26/56 |
Check out this graph and notice the similar trend in performances.