IPSWICH athlete Jude Thomas achieved his goal of running a sub four-minute Mile at last weekend's New Zealand Mile Championships.

Thomas placed third overall in a time of 3:58.29.

His Brisbane-based teammate Callum Davies finished second in the same race.

His other training partners Georgia Griffith and Sara Billings, from Melbourne, came first and second respectively in their race.

The athletes had been invited to attend the Cooks Classic at Cook Garden's, the “home of the mile” in Wanganui.

The four-minute mile was first broken in 1954 by Roger Bannister. It still represents a magic milestone by middle distance runners.

Jude's dad Michael, who was an accreditated photographer in New Zealand, said his son was “extremely happy” with the result.

Jude heads to Melbourne next week for the Beachside Gift in Mentone, where he will compete in a two-mile gift races against a range of quality runners including Stewart McSweyn (top eight finisher at both the Olympics and Commonwealth Games).

Jude then travels to Adelaide for a 5000m race where he will try to improve his personal best time of 13:45.40.

After that, he plans to be back in Melbourne to compete in an invitational 3000m at the Maurie Plant Meet.

“This event is the week after Bathurst (the world cross country championships), and it's likely that a number of international athletes will be racing, presenting a great opportunity for Jude to build his experience against an international field,” Michael said.