Kathrine Switzer

After Switzer's 50 year old coach Arnie Briggs insisted a marathon was too far to run for a "fragile woman",[8] he conceded that 'If any woman could do it, you could, but you would have to prove it to me. If you ran the distance in practice, I’d be the first to take you to Boston'.[3] Switzer trained with him for the 1967 Boston Marathon which she completed under entry number 261 as a member of the Syracuse Harriers athletic club.[7] As a result of her run, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) barred women from taking part in races with men:[9] it took five more years before the Boston Marathon ran its first official women's race. Her finishing time of approximately 4 hours and 20 minutes was nearly an hour behind the first female finisher, Roberta "Bobbi" Gibb, who had been refused a race registration[10] and was not attacked during the race.[11]

Having checked that the rule book for the marathon made no mention of gender, Switzer registered for the race using her official AAU number, the full race fee, a properly acquired certificate of fitness, and with the form 'signed as I always sign my name, K.V. Switzer '.[3] She also stated that her name had been misspelled on her birth certificate, so she often used her initials to avoid confusion.[12] Switzer's father was supportive of his daughter's entry into the race, and on race day other runners assembling for the start greeted her entry into the race with support and enthusiasm, leading her to feel 'very welcome'.[3]

However, race officials opposed women competing in the marathon, and photographs of race manager Jock Semple attempting to rip Switzer's number off were widespread in the media.[13]

Semple repeatedly assaulted Switzer during the race in an attempt to remove her race number and prevent her continuing to compete.[3][14] In her memoir, she wrote:

Instinctively I jerked my head around quickly and looked square into the most vicious face I'd ever seen. A big man, a huge man, with bared teeth was set to pounce, and before I could react he grabbed my shoulder and flung me back, screaming, 'Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers!'[15]

Semple knocked down Switzer's coach and fellow competitor, Arnie Briggs, when Briggs attempted to protect Switzer.[3] Semple succeeded in removing one of Switzer's gloves and only stopped his attacks when Switzer's then-boyfriend Tom Miller, a 235-pound ex-football player and nationally ranked hammer thrower who was running with her, knocked Semple to the ground.[3][16][17][18][19] Photographs taken of the incident made world headlines.[3][20] Semple complained in a 1968 interview about Miller's success in stopping Semple's physical assaults saying "That guy's a hammer thrower, for cripes' sake!"[13]

Despite the rule book making no mention of gender,[3] Semple later claimed that Switzer was issued a number through an 'oversight' in the entry screening process, and was treated as an interloper when the supposed 'error' was discovered.[21]

Boston Athletic Association director Will Cloney, whose rejection of Gibb's entry into the 1966 Boston Marathon claimed that women were physiologically incapable of running 26 miles,[10] was asked his opinion of Switzer competing in the race. Although the race rule book made no mention of gender and Switzer had a properly issued valid race registration[3] Cloney said, "Women can't run in the Marathon because the rules forbid it. Unless we have rules, society will be in chaos. I don't make the rules, but I try to carry them out. We have no space in the Marathon for any unauthorized person, even a man. If that girl were my daughter, I would spank her."[7]

Because of Switzer's official entry into and completion of the marathon, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) barred women from all competitions with male runners, with violators losing the right to compete in any races.[9] Switzer, with other women runners, tried to convince the Boston Athletic Association to allow women to participate in the marathon. Finally, in 1972, the Boston Marathon established an official women's race.[4]

According to Switzer, she understood the gravity of her participation and accomplishment:

I knew if I quit, nobody would ever believe that women had the capability to run 26-plus miles. If I quit, everybody would say it was a publicity stunt. If I quit, it would set women's sports back, way back, instead of forward. If I quit, I'd never run Boston. If I quit, Jock Semple and all those like him would win. My fear and humiliation turned to anger.[3]

Switzer was the women's winner of the 1974 New York City Marathon, with a time of 3:07:29 (59th overall).[22][23] Her personal best time for the marathon distance is 2:51:37, at Boston in 1975.[24]

Switzer was named Female Runner of the Decade (1967–77) by Runner's World Magazine and later became a television commentator for marathons, starting with the 1984 Olympic women's marathon, and received an Emmy for her work.[4][25] In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Switzer's name and picture.[26]

She wrote Running and Walking for Women over 40 in 1997. She released her memoir, Marathon Woman, in April 2007, on the 40th anniversary of her first running of the Boston Marathon. In April 2008, Marathon Woman won the Billie Award for journalism for its inspiring portrayal of women in sports.[27] When visiting the Boston Marathon, Switzer is glad to see other female runners:

When I go to the Boston Marathon now, I have wet shoulders—women fall into my arms crying. They're weeping for joy because running has changed their lives. They feel they can do anything.

— Kathrine Switzer, The Nation (2013)[28]

She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2011 for creating a social revolution by empowering women around the world through running.[4] Since 1967, she has worked to improve running opportunities for women in different parts of the world.[29]

In 2015 Kathrine Switzer launched her global non-profit 261 Fearless with an ambassador program, club training system and events. 261 Fearless uses running as the means to empower women to overcome life obstacles and embrace healthy living.[30][31]

For the 2017 Boston Marathon, bib number 261, the same number Switzer was assigned in 1967, was assigned to her as "Switzer, Kathrine V." This marked the 50th anniversary of her historic marathon. She was placed in wave 1 and corral 1 and finished in 4:44:31.[32] Also in 2017, the Boston Athletic Association announced it would not assign bib number 261 to any future runners, as an honor for Switzer.[33] It was her ninth Boston Marathon. She was leading a team of runners from her nonprofit, 261 Fearless, Inc., which she hopes will connect and empower women through running. And rather than being the only official woman in the race like in 1967, she was joined by over 13,700 women—almost half of the total runners.[34]

Also in 2017, she ran the New York City Marathon, which marked the first time she had run it since 1974; she finished in 4:48:21.[35]

In May 2018, Switzer was the commencement speaker at the 164^th commencement of Syracuse University,[36][37] and received an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree.[38]