The race saw Bannister and Landy – the only two sub-four-minute runners in the world at the time, fight to the finish line.

Bannister’s defeat of his Australian rival on the last bend of ‘The Miracle Mile’ has gone down in athletics history. Indeed, his achievement only a couple of months earlier in becoming the first athlete to run a sub-four-minute mile – in three minutes, 59.4 seconds at Iffley Road sports ground in Oxford on 6 May 1954 – became one of the great feats of the twentieth century. Roger’s achievement was all the more remarkable as it followed minimal training and was recorded whilst he was practising as a junior doctor. However, this was soon emulated by Landy; 46 days later he ran a new world record in Turku, Finland, with an official time of 3:58.

It is, therefore, not surprising that 35,000 enthusiastic fans packed the new Empire Stadium to watch the historical event - the first event ever to feature two sub-4-minute runners. With 90 yards to go, John Landy glanced over his left shoulder to check his opponent’s position. At that moment, Bannister passed him on the right and streaked to victory in a Commonwealth record time of 3:58.8. Landy’s second place finish in 3:59.6 was another first, celebrating the first time the four-minute mile had been broken by two men in the same race.

The Commonwealth is a movement brimming with captivating stories of human feat and endeavour – and ‘The Miracle Mile’ will go down in Commonwealth sporting history of one of those unique and enthralling stories. It is no exaggeration to say that Bannister and Landy were 'giants’ of Commonwealth sport and icons of international athletics.

As a result of this feat on the west coast of Canada in 1954, the Commonwealth is a family with which he will forever be synonymous and inextricably linked. Bannister, quite literally, set the pace for all sportsmen and women worldwide and was undoubtedly an inspiration, then and now.