At which stadium was the first Emsley Carr Mile held?

The first Emsley Carr Mile was held at White City Stadium.

It took place in 1953 at the famous White City Stadium in London. The race was created by Emsley Carr, an athletics enthusiast and editor of The News of the World, who hoped an annual mile contest would help produce the first sub-four-minute mile on British soil.

Gordon Pirie won that inaugural race in 4:06.80. Before the second Emsley Carr Mile was run, Roger Bannister had already broken four minutes in Oxford in 1954, ending the specific dream that inspired the event while giving the race a lasting place in British middle-distance history.

The competition later moved among prominent British stadiums, including Crystal Palace, Alexander Stadium and London’s Olympic Stadium. Those later venues explain why White City can be overlooked, but it remains the race’s original home.