On April 19th in 1967, Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon. Switzer was born on January 5th, 1947 in Amberg, Germany and she moved to Fairfax County, Virginia in 1949. She ran a mile each day along with playing field hockey and basketball. She did track at Lynchburg College, competing in events available to women, then transferred to Syracuse University in 1966 and unofficially trained with the men’s cross country team. The 20-year old decided to run the Boston Marathon and used “K. V. Switzer” to sign up, which prevented people from suspecting a female. With many journalists and photographers taking photos during the race, she was chased by the race director, Jock Semple, with the intentions to pull her out of the race but was saved by her boyfriend, Tom Miller, and coach, Arnie Briggs, who were both running alongside her. She finished the race with a time around 4 hours and 20 minutes. Switzer didn’t stop there, as she continued to run and won the New York City Marathon in 1974, and ran a personal-best of 2:51:37 at the Boston Marathon in 1975 which made her 6th in the world and 3rd in the U.S. She became the director of Avon Sports Programs in 1977, provided TV commentary for the women’s Olympic marathon in Los Angeles in 1984, became the program director of Avon Running Global Women’s Circuit in 1997, and published Running and Walking for Women Over 40 in the same year. Switzer received many awards including the Fred Lebow Award from Road Runners Club of America in 2000, the NYRR’s Abebe Bikila Award in 2003, the Billie Award from Women’s Sports Foundation in 2008, and she was also recognized in the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She is currently 77-years old and still running marathons today. Not only does Kathrine Switzer have a tremendous amount of success, she empowered women while doing it. Her inspiring achievements encouraged women to reach their goals even if they seem unreachable.
Works Cited
NYRR. “Kathrine Switzer.” New York Road Runners, www.nyrr.org/about/hall-of-fame/kathrine-switzer. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.
Switzer, Kathrine. “The Real Story.” Kathrine Switzer – Marathon Woman, 21 June 2018, kathrineswitzer.com/1967-boston- marathon-the-real-story/.
