Lagat eyes record eighth Wanamaker Mile win

Kenyan-born American Bernard Lagat plans to seal his legacy with a record eighth victory in the Wanamaker Mile at tomorrow's 103rd Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden and then shift his focus to longer distances.

Lagat is tied at seven wins with Irishman Eamonn Coghlan, who chalked up his victories between 1977 and 1987, at the annual indoor event named after the head of the Wanamaker's Department Store in New York City, Rodman Wanamaker.

"When they open that page of the record book and they look at Bernard Lagat winning eight in the same page as those great champions that have run before, that would be very special," he said.

Employees of the Wanamaker Department store started up a track club that gave birth to the meet and the mile name and every year since 1926 some of the greatest milers in the world have tested themselves on the Garden's board track.

The list of mile winners at the Garden besides 'Chairman of the Boards' Coghlan include his fellow Irishman Marcus O'Sullivan, Kenyan Kip Keino, Noureddine Morceli, of Algeria, and American Glenn Cunningham, a six times winner in the 1930s.