Boston Marathon's first woman Kathrine Switzer competes 50 years later

[TomSea]

Boston Marathon's first woman Kathrine Switzer competes 50 years later

The first time Kathrine Switzer stood on the starting line of the Boston Marathon, it was as the lone woman in a men-only race.

The fact she dared to compete led one race official to try to rip the number 261 from her back, a few miles in.

Fifty years on, aged 70, Ms Switzer returned to the starting line wearing the same number.

This time, she was hailed for paving the way for women's distance running around the world.

Continued: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39626959

[Gefn]

Gotta admire her.

[TomSea]

From a picture of her at the link, if that is her at 70, she is still trim and looks very well.

I read a book on the history of the Boston Marathon, it really is a great sports event in America's history, reading about all of the different winners.

[TomSea]

She got into the race under a man's registration or along these lines. Then, once the Marathon began, they realized a woman had gotten into the race.



Funny to look back at it now, you've come a long way baby.

[TomSea]

Switzer:

Switzer, 70, crossed the finish line with an unofficial time of 4:44:31, just 24 minutes slower than her time as a 20-year-old. She said it has always been her dream to return to the streets of Boston after making history there in 1967.

"It's just an enormous sense of gratitude for the city of Boston, the streets of Boston, which changed my life and helped pave the way for what is nothing less than a social revolution in women's running," she said. "When I crossed the finish line — to celebrate 50 years of looking back and seeing the huge progress and changes that have been made — I can only say that I'm extremely grateful for the experience."

Continued: http://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-officially-run-boston-marathon-finishes-race-70/story?id=46849724

Despite those articles in the Health and Education area on running, I personally know a man who did not start running in earnest until he was in his sixties, he ended up winning his age classification,  70 something in a major marathon, I forget his exact time.

So, if Kathy Switzer ran 4:24 back in '67; that's a very good time all the same but it's not up there with the record books by any means.  For a man, a very good marathon is running it in under 3 hours.