The Emsley Carr Mile
First staged in 1953, the Emsley Carr Mile was created by Sir William Carr in memory of his father, Sir Emsley Carr, the former editor of the News of the World. As part of the tradition, the race winner signs a red Moroccan leather-bound book, now in its second volume.
The race has been won by eleven Olympic champions: Kip Keino, Steve Ovett, Murray Halberg, John Walker, Geoff Smith, Sebastian Coe, Saïd Aouita, William Tanui, Vénuste Niyongabo, Haile Gebrselassie, Asbel Kiprop, and Hicham El Guerrouj. It has also been won by seven athletes who have held the world record for the mile: Walker, Ovett, Coe, El Guerrouj, Filbert Bayi, Derek Ibbotson, and Jim Ryun. Derek Ibbotson in 1956 with (3:59.40) was the first to run it in under 4 minutes.
The race took place at the old White City Stadium from 1953 to 68, and then, in the 1970s, mainly at Crystal Palace. Since then, it has been held in Scotland and Wales as well as Sheffield, Manchester, Gateshead, and London.
The last five years have seen it in 5 different locations – Gateshead, Parliament Hill, London, Manchester, London Stadium, and the University of Stirling. The current defending champion is Henry McLuckie (3:53.99).
What will make the 2026 race even more special is that the newly crowned World Indoor 3000m Champion, Josh Kerr, has announced that he will attack the world mile record of 3:43.13, held by Morocco’s El Guerrouj since July 1999. Kerr, who holds the British mile record with a time of 3:45.34 set in May 2024, currently sits sixth on the world all-time list.
Speaking about his ambitions, dubbed ‘Project 222’, the double Olympic medallist said: “This record deserves to be done at home, this record needs to be brought home, and this is a British record. This is a British distance; it would be doing a disservice to the UK not to be doing it at home.”
He has”ed, “I am really excited. There are no guarantees in this; it is a record that deserves a lot of respect. I believe I am respecting it by coming out and talking about it. I want to do it with the people I have behind me. I have an amazing team.”
The attempt to break the men’s world record will take place at the Novuna London Athletics Meet, part of the Wanda Diamond League series, on Saturday 18 July, where a sell-out crowd in excess of 50,000 is expected.
