News

Loss Of One Of Our Greatest Legends

September 7th 2018, 7:59:57 pm

We had the sad news that Diane Leather, the first woman to break 5 minutes for the mile, has passed away.

Diane Leather

It is with sadness that we have to report the death of Diane Leather (7 January 1933 – 5 September 2018) who became the first woman to run a mile in less than 5 minutes. Representing Birchfield Harriers, Leather broke the 5-minute barrier with a time of 4 minutes and 59.6 seconds, during the Midlands Women's AAA Championships at Birmingham's Alexander Sports Ground on 29 May 1954, 23 days after Roger Bannister became the first man to run a sub 4-minute mile in Oxford. Earlier at that meeting she lowered the British record for 880yds to 2 mins 14.1secs.

In 1955, Leather broke the mile record by a further 15 seconds, achieving her personal best of 4:45.0. This world record remained untouched for a further eight years until New Zealand's Marise Chamberlain ran a 4:41.4 in 1962. It was not until 1967 that the IAAF started recognising women's world records at this distance.

Leather won two European Championship silver medals at 800 metres. At the 1954 event in Bern, she was second behind the Soviet Union's Nina Otkalenko in 2:09.8, while at the 1958 event in Stockholm, she was second to another Soviet, Yelizaveta Yermolayeva, running 2:06.6.

She was also a two-time winner of the women's race at the International Cross Country Championships in 1954 and 1955 (albeit an unofficial one before the official race introduction).

In 1960, now married and competing as Diana Charles, she competed at the Olympic Games in Rome. By now past her best, she was eliminated in the heats of the 800 metres, in 2:14.24. Her trainer was Doris Nelson Neal.

She retired at the age of 27 and went on to teach, do social work, and raise four children. She lived with her husband for more than 55 years in a remote corner of Cornwall.

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