In honor of Women’s History month, I would like to highlight some of the most inspiring and strong women who have made an impact in the sport of running. As someone who is a collegiate cross country and track athlete, I am inspired by the empowering women who found the courage to go after their passions and go against societal norms. Running is a sport that is both mentally and physically challenging, but what these women have shown and what we continue to prove today is that women are worthy and capable of doing anything that we set our minds to.
For most of the 1900’s and prior, women were viewed as not being strong enough and too delicate to compete in running competitions. As we all know, this is completely untrue, as women have continued to break barriers and have achieved success in the sport of running. The article “A history of women’s running” by Runner’s World mentions how women were not allowed to compete in running events in the Olympics until 1928 and unable to take part in marathons until 1972. In 1928, women were only allowed to compete in the 100 meter and 800 meter races until women began collapsing after racing the 800. This led to the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to make the decision to ban women from racing in events longer than 200 meters. It wasn’t until the 1960s where this ban was revoked, allowing women to compete in the 800m and eventually the longer as more distance events were added to the Olympics.
When women first began officially competing in marathons, some women were given specific guidelines to follow. In the New York City Marathon of 1972, the women were given instructions to start their race ten minutes before the men’s race went off. The female runners including Lynn Blackstone, Jane Muhrcke, Liz Franceschini, Pat Barrett, Nina Kusckik and Cathy Miller all protested by sitting down for these ten minutes until the men’s race commenced, as reported by ESPN.
Throughout this period in time there were women who were putting themselves out there and competing in running competitions, despite the fact that it was not considered acceptable. The following information below will highlight some of the accomplishments of the athletes I am honored to have the opportunity to write about including Violet Percy, Katherine Switzer, Lina Radke and Joan Benoit Samuelson.
Violet Percy was a woman from the UK and recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations to be the first woman to ever compete in a marathon race in 1926.
Lina Radke won the 800m race in the Amsterdam Olympic Games of 1928, making her the first female athlete to receive gold in this event.
Katherine Switzer was the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon. According to A Brief History of Women Running. went under the name “KV Switzer” in order to register for the race.
Joan Benoit was the first female athlete to win the marathon in the Los Angeles Olympic Games of 1984.
All of these athletes, in addition to numerous other determined and strong women, truly deserve to be recognized for being a part of this time of acceptance for women’s running. The amount of perseverance, resilience and courage these women had to go after and accomplish their goals, in spite of societal norms, is truly something we can all be inspired by.