Jeremy Rae falls short of four-minute goal

Fort Erie runner trying to become youngest Canadian to mile barrier

Posted By Dan Dakin, The Review

Updated 3 days ago

TORONTO – Jeremy Rae of Fort Erie came close, but he fell short of his goal of becoming the youngest Canadian in history to break the four-minute mile barrier Thursday night.

Competing in a one-mile race as part of the Usain Bolt-headlined Festival of Excellence track meet at the University of Toronto's Varsity Stadium, Rae finished in a time of four minutes, 6.44 seconds in his bid to become just the fourth Canadian junior to ever break the barrier.

Rae, 18, was invited to compete in the Festival of Excellence after he won a gold medal in the senior boys 1,500m race at the Ontario high school track and field championships Friday. The Lakeshore Catholic High School athlete's time of three minutes, 45 seconds was the second-fastest in the history of the Ontario high school championships, and the fastest by a high school athlete in North America this season.

Not surprisingly, Rae finished Thursday's one-mile race second to last and 11 seconds behind the winner. But he was the only high school athlete in the race field that included three Olympians from the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

"I lost contact with the leaders. I went through the first lap, and at 800m I was still there, but I didn't realize the gap was building," Rae said after the race.

He took some comfort in not finishing last and said he had no regrets.

"It was a great experience," he said.

Mike Young, Rae's coach with the Niagara Regional Athletics, said he will likely compete in the Canadian senior track and field championships in two weeks and then the junior national championships to be held in Prince Edward Island next month.

As for his next attempt to break the elusive four-minute mile barrier, Rae said he won't give it another shot as a junior - instead, he'll focus on 1,500m races in his division.

Rae will head to Indiana in the fall for the first year of a four-year track scholarship at the University of Notre Dame.