Sean Ingle

This was this generation's four minute mile.

And it really was that special because it's cut through to

Everyone that runs, a good example for your listeners, imagine trying to run 100 metres in 17 seconds, which isn't slow, and then trying to keep doing it for over 26 miles, because that's what Sebastian Saue did yesterday.

It really was remarkable.

And we were definitely on the cusp.

I mean, the big change happened about 10 years ago where these super shoes with very bouncy and fast foam first started coming in.

And since then, the marathon world record has come down to sort of 203 to sort of slowly come down.

But even so, to take another big chunk out of it yesterday, 65 seconds off the world record in one mighty swoop was a surprise.

Well, there's a few things, but most of all, it's the foam in them.

If you'd have bought a pair of running shoes 10, 15 years ago, the actual foam on them wouldn't have been that bouncy, wouldn't have been that responsive, and also would have been not as high.

These days, they're sort of almost four centimetres of very springy, very bouncy foam.

And essentially, it means that when you run, the shoe gives you a lot back and you're able to sort of, that trampoline effect, sort of go faster and without damaging your calves and your body as much.

Well, I think people would say that Roger Bannister ran his four-minute mile on a cinder track

And then, you know, a few years later, we had these more modern tracks, and that was probably worth a second or a second and a half a lap.

So technology inevitably moves on.

Where I think there was a problem initially was there was one shoe company, Nike, that was three, four years ahead of everyone else.

So if you weren't running in Nike...

For a marathon, you had almost no chance of winning the big major event.

That's changed now.

Last week in Boston, I think another shoe company, Asics, had seven of the top ten on the podium.