One of Britain’s greatest athletes and the world’s first four-minute miler, Sir Roger Bannister, is to officially open a new athletics track today.
The eight-lane, floodlit track, is being built at Sutton Valence School, near Maidstone, at a cost of more than £800,000 as a training facility for young athletes throughout Maidstone and Medway.
It is being jointly funded by Sutton Valence School and Maidstone council.
Work got under way on the track in March. Sir Roger will give the track a final seal of approval when he officially opens it before students, staff and invited guests this afternoon.
The track will be one of the finest in the region and a facility local athletes have been looking forward to for 25 years, according to Paul Alcock, chairman of Maidstone and Medway Athletics Club.
The track has already been declared an official training centre for the 2012 London Olympic Games and club members will be able to train there five days a week, meeting the school’s policy to widen access to its sports facilities.
Sir Roger Bannister ran into the history books on May 6 1954, when, at the age of 25, he ran a mile in just 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.
Although the record was broken soon after – and many times since – Sir Roger’s achievement has gone down as one of the most memorable events in sporting history.