This story and photograph from a real incident continues to inspire a lot of females around the world…
After understanding that a woman was running, the event organizer ran after her yelling to get out of the race! Luckily, her boyfriend as well as other male runners shielded her during the complete marathon!
After a while, she really made her part in history as she made world headlines by winning the NYC marathon with a time of 3 hours 7 minutes 29 seconds!
She is an icon in runner’s circles and among women in 20th Century sports, but most Americans may know Kathrine Switzer by the famous photographs that first surfaced in the Boston Globe that afternoon. In 1967 Switzer became the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon. Yet, the way it all unfolded, she says, was different than you’d think.
“I wasn’t trying to prove anything. I loved running and knew that for others who had run Boston, it was a great experience,” Switzer said by phone. “Back then, there was no New York, Chicago or London Marathon. And outside the Olympics, for runners, Boston was the ‘big baby’ and a special thing. I wanted to be a part.”
Now an author of the memoir Marathon Woman and other books, Switzer is also a contributor for Runner’s World magazine and live race commentator and analyst. She also heads an organization called 261 Fearless that organizes non-competitive running clubs and unique education programs offered to women all over the world. Switzer also ran the 2017 Boston Marathon 50 years after her initial run. After the race’s organizer, the Boston Athletic Association, retired her number.
Kathrine Switzer’s marathon in 1967 became historic because she was the first woman to complete the all-male race as an official entrant.
