Nolan Shaheed loses M55 indoor mile WR to Guy Bracken in UK

Guy Bracken had energy left to smile and point.

Three weeks ago, the British Milers Club held an indoor meet at London’s Lee Valley track, contesting the mile and 3000. In Heat 3, a gent named Guy Bracken took second in 4:39.84. But it wasn’t until a week ago that news media revealed the import of that sub-4:40. It was an M55 world record, beating the listed mark of 4:42.89 by Pasadena’s Nolan Shaheed at 2006 Boston nationals. Yowza! Here’s how a local paper covered it: “Last year North Shields Poly athlete Guy Bracken returned from the Masters Athletics World Championships in Daegu, Korea with two gold medals. And this year Guy, who competes in the over 55 category, now has added a world record to his CV. He competed in the indoor championships at Lee Valley, and posted a time of 4:39:84 when he competed in the Ayo Falola Dream Mile event, part of the British Milers club meeting. Guy says of his record, ‘I was delighted to break the mile world record which belonged to masters’ legend Nolan Shaheed. My next target is the European Masters’ in Madrid in March.’” Gary Mitchell got lots of shots at the event.