05/05/2026
The first sub-four minute mile was broken by 25 year old Oxford medical student, Roger Bannister, while wearing a pair of bespoke leather spikes (cleats) handcrafted by GT Law and Son at Iffley Road Track, Oxford, England.
3 minutes, 59.4 seconds was a feet that took both athletic strategy and footwear ingenuity to achieve. GT Law and Son’s bespoke leather spikes consisted of a thin black kangaroo leather upper. This innovation in footwear design stemmed from a specific goal of creating the lightest pair of spikes that will assist in breaking the 4 minute mark.
The choice of Australian kangaroo leather more than doubled the costs at 5 Ibs ($14.00 at the time, adjusted for today’s inflation $190.00-$230.00) made the upper 25% lighter and 10 times stronger than traditional cowhide. Ultimately GT Law and Son created a pair of shoes that weighed just 4.5 ounces (128 grams) while maintaining the strength needed for the high-intensity stress of a mile race on a cinder track.
Bannister, on the day of the race, used a grindstone in the hospital laboratory to file the metal spikes down unusually thin for that extra edge. To prevent the sharpened tips from picking up sticky debris every few yards from the track, he rubbed graphite on them, just before the race.
This is prime example of what happens when you have a pro-active athlete with a clearly defined objective, partnering up with the right manufacturer. Records are broken. History is made.
