Last week the Bring Back the Mile Campaign was launched with an e-mail blast to the media and a website www.bringbackthemile,com. The seed that sprouted this idea came to Lamppa ten years ago when he was working out at the local track in his hometown of Santa Barbara, California. The track is right next to the ocean in a climate that is conducive to running any distance year round.
Lamppa is Running USA's media director and was one of the people behind the development of the Running USA teams that have transformed American distance running over the past decade(the idea was officially launched in the Fall of 2000). Initially his thought was to put on a mile race on the track in Santa Barbara. The more he thought about it, the more it became clear that a single event, no matter how successful, only had a sort of "the circus comes to town" impact in that the event is like a traveling circus that comes goes quickly through a community, only leaving a small footprint.
"I want something bigger," Lamppa thought. "I want it to have a 'spill over' effect." So a single mile race becomes a series of races. To broaden the campaign further there would also be an effort to return the mile to high school meets, which now run 1,600 meter races, a hybrid distance that is neither a mile nor a metric mile that is run in the Olympics. Lamppa knew he couldn't do this alone so he began talking to people inside and outside the sport about his idea. About what to call it, what elements would make it work, and how to get it done.
He was encouraged by the enthusiasm others expressed about the concept. "When I asked people: 'What do you think?' They would respond: 'How can I help? What can I do?'" He hired a marketing person to help him craft his message. He solicited support from some of the top names in the sport, past and present, two of whom have Minnesota ties.
Steve Holman, the former Minnesota state high school champ from Richfield High School, and Carrie Tollefson, the Minnesota Olympian, both jumped on board. And the list of supporters is not just runners, but agents, coaches, journalists, and a former US Congressman from Kansas, who was also a former World Recordholder in the mile and 1,500 meters, Jim Ryun.
Lamppa's pitch is simple, to elevate and celebrate the mile, the American event. Everybody knows what a mile is, says Lamppa, not just runners. It's short enough that anybody can participate in a mile event without a huge commitment to the training for the event. It's a TV friendly distance and the four-minute mile still has status, a universal cache that is recognized by those inside and outside the sport.
The timing for launching such a push is now, said Lamppa. Two US runners--Jenny Simpson, who won the women's metric mile, and Matt Centrowitz Jr., who was third in the men's race, at the IAAF World Championships last year. Morgan Uceny was ranked the number one female miler/1,500 meter runner for 2011 by Track & Field News. All of this illustrates that US middle distance runners are among the best in the world. 17 US high school boy milers ran under 4:10 in the mile last year, said Lamppa, the most ever to run that fast in a single season.
Add to that the fact that February 10 is the 50th anniversary of America's Jim Beatty becoming the first man to run under four minutes indoors and other similar historic milestones and you have messages that can not only generate media interest, but there is a chance to "get people excited about the mile again," says Lamppa. There are other tie ins, such as the First Lady, Michelle Obama's, program to attempt to reverse the obesity trend in children. What better way than to get them exercising using running a mile as an early goal in such a program? adds Lamppa.
All of these elements are the foundation of a broad platform that can be used to elevate and celebrate the mile, he says. Lamppa also envisions, in the near future, nationally televised mile races that generate interest, money, and the increase the popularity of the event, as well as the image of the sport.
These projects are focused on the US now, but can be extended to other countries with rich histories with the mile, such as England, Ireland, Scandinavia, New Zealand, and Australia.
New Balance, for example, just launched The British Miler Campaign with a preview screening of a documentary, the trailer for which can be viewed HERE. It is a promotion for the rich history for the event in the UK as well as UK New Balance athletes currently competing in the event.
Just as it took some time for the seed that was planted in Lamppa's mind ten years ago grow into the flower that is just beginning to bloom, this project will not transform things overnight, but over time. The 'building blocks" for this project are there, Lamppa believes, knowing that the race to make it happen is more of a marathon than a mile.
"I am the mile" is one of the themes. So if you see people holding up signs with that slogan, wearing T-shirts with it stenciled on the front, or the words up on billboards, you'll get the message. The mile is our distance, says Lamppa. It's time to reclaim it, and return it to its proper place in the sporting firmament.
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