Women's History Month: Making Strides

In honor of Women’s History Month, let’s take a jog down memory lane and celebrate the brave and impactful women who toed the line before us.

The starting gun fires in 1928 when the Olympic Games cautiously opened its track and field events to women, only to backtrack and impose restrictive measures on their participation after reports were made that multiple women collapsed after running the 800m. After that, women weren't allowed to race any distance longer  than 200m.

Now obviously, the marathon is a lot longer than 200m, and women weren’t legally allowed to participate in marathons until 1972. However, that didn’t stop several women from finding ways to run before that. In 1966, Roberta Gibb hid in the bushes near the starting line of the Boston Marathon until the gun went off, at which time she burst out of the bushes and went on to complete the full marathon. Another creative tactic was used by Katherine Switzer the following year, when she filled out an application for the Boston Marathon using only her initials, "K.V. Switzer." Officials didn’t know she was a woman until she showed up at the starting line, at which time they tried to physically remove her (as seen in the photo above), but they were unsuccessful, and she also went on to complete the whole race.

 When the A.A.U. permitted its sanctioned marathons (including Boston) to allow women participants in late 1971, eight women started and completed the 1972 Boston Marathon. That same year, six women were allowed to compete in the New York City Marathon, but they were given a handicap: they had to start ten minutes before the men. At the starting line, they sat down in protest.