No running distance or field event has the historic and enduring appeal as the Mile. The Mile, much like the 100 meters and the marathon is still widely considered as one of the most iconic distances and the pinnacle of athletic excellence.
The first sub-4-minute mile was smashed in 1954 by Roger Bannister. His time of 3:59.4 has since been broken by over 1400 athletes worldwide.
Two unmatched records stand today in the ladies and men’s categories. The men’s world record stands at 3:43.13, set by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1999 while the women’s record sits at 4:12.33 held by Olympic sensation Sifan Hassan, set in July 2019.
However, the mile isn’t only for a considered ‘pro’ or Olympic athlete, it’s the ideal fitness distance for runners looking to test their speed endurance and pace up their tempo, regardless of age or ability. With the continued popularity of the distance, Under Armour recently announced the launch of its popular Global Under Armour All Out Mile Campaign in SA.
UA will be challenging pro and novice runners across SA to go all out for 30 days to break their personal record over 1600m and benchmark themselves against competitors from around the world and at the same time stand a chance to win a host of exciting prizes.
Participating runners will set a benchmark time in August and then spend the month of September working to improve their time. UA will have a 30-day training programme to assist runners during September. Once October arrives, runners can take on the All Out Mile as many times as they like, races will be tracked by the UAMapMyRun app or an alternative run device linking to FitRankings.com (Garmin, Suunto, Apple).
“We are thrilled to be bringing this fierce campaign to South Africa. SA plays host to some of the most popular running events in the world and we have an ardent running community here. The Under Armour ‘All Out Mile’ has been created to challenge runners and encourage them to reach their best. We are excited to see it all unfold over the next few weeks” says Lorrianne Cloete, head of marketing at Under Armour SA.
Smashing the Mile
Training with the fast tempo of the mile is a great benefit to all distance runners. If you’ve never tried it before, this is a great opportunity to follow the challenge and surprise yourself with your abilities to improve from your initial benchmark time in Aug to your fastest All Out Mile attempt in Oct. The tech is all simple and free to use from UA. Once registered to the Under Armour All Out Mile, just download UAMapMyRun and follow the above simple steps. The hard part is the fun part, giving your everything over 1.6km.
Win Big
What’s great about bagging your Mile results is that you can compare with your running buddies and everyone else all over the world. The prizes on offer, both local and international, are both for personal glory as well as to charities chosen by the “Media Milers” who will soon unveil themselves to the SA audience.
How it works:
- Start by registering for the challenge on https://uaalloutmile.com/
- Then track all of your runs by linking your UA MapMyRun account on FitRankings.
- Set your benchmark mile and train from 30 August to 30 September.
- Take advantage of the weekly training plans and video tips directly from UA’s professional athletes, coaches and Human Performance experts.
- During the UA All Out Mile competition period, go all out and crush your PR from 1 October through 11 October.
- After completing your UA All Out Mile (you can try more than once), your results will automatically be pulled from UA MapMyRun and appear on the FitRankings leader board.
- See how you stack up versus runners from around the world.
Visit www.uaalloutmile.com to register and see what you can do.