History wonks and running buffs will vie for who loves this movie the most. "Everest on the Track" is as much an historical study of Britain's psychological, if not almost physical, need for something - anything - to erase the woes of World War II as it is a fresh look at the quest for the first sub-4:00 mile, the heretofore deemed physically impossible. Before the war, Britain had bloomed best in its Sporting Tradition, but the amateur accolades leading to Olympic accomplishments were blown off the podiums in the 1952 Helsinki Games. Roger Bannister was the epitome of that disappearing scholar-athlete ideal. Can the lunchtime-trained runner immersed in his medical school studies inject the booster shot into Britain's flagging but still flickering morale?

After World War II, Britain’s sporting tradition was reaching a new zenith, and young med student Roger Bannister was one of its leading lights. He had set records in races of various lengths, but after finishing a disappointing fourth in the key 1,500-meter race at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, he set himself a new goal – to run the mile in under four minutes. And two years later, on May 6, 1954, in a race at Oxford on a rainy, windy day, Bannister stunned the world by running the mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. Since that day, more people have reached the summit of Everest than have matched Bannister’s feat.

Utilizing vintage footage and new interviews with Bannister, his competitors, and others, BANNISTER: EVEREST ON THE TRACK recounts this remarkable story of one man’s personal achievement that lifted a nation.