Kathrine Switzer: The Face of Women's Marathon Running

© 2008 The Runner's Tribe, all rights reserved.

Kathrine Switzer will always be best known as the woman who challenged the all-male tradition of the Boston Marathon and became the first woman to officially enter and run the event. Her entry created an uproar and worldwide notoriety when a race official tried to forcibly remove her from the competition.

Three decades later, the incident continues to capture the public imagination and is, in part, the reason Switzer has dedicated her multi-faceted career to creating opportunities and equal sport status for women.

That career has included creating programs in 27 countries for over 1 million women that led to the inclusion of the women's marathon as an official event in the Olympic Games, changing forever the face of sports, health and opportunities for women around the world.

The "Boston Incident" also inspired Kathrine to become a good athlete: She has run 35 marathons, won the 1974 New York City Marathon, and ran her personal best of 2:51.33 by finishing 2nd in the 1975 Boston Marathon. At the time, this was the 6th best women's marathon time in the world, and 3rd in the U.S.A

RunnersTribe: Kathrrine, thanks for you time. You recently launched a new book, a memoir titled 'Marathon Woman'. Can you give a run down on the guts of the book?

Kathrine Switzer : MARATHON WOMAN is my 3rd book; it is an autobiography, but told in the scope of the women's marathon and other women's sports history from about 1960-84. It is not really about 'running', although of course it IS about running; it's more about overcoming the impossible and changing women's lives. It's quite popular, and won a 'Billie' award this year for outstanding journalism.

RT: Even though you finished that famous 1967 Boston marathon, you were disqualified by Jock Semple. Did you ever hear much from Jack after that? Any apologies ?

KS: Jock Semple and I were at daggers drawn for 5 years after the Boston incident, and then he kissed me on the starting line of the 1973 Boston Marathon, so that was his way of saying, 'sorry, I was wrong.' We women had proved ourselves and he knew it. We went on to become best of friends, making speeches and appearances together. I was with him a few hours before he died; he was a man who changed my life and taught me that sometimes your biggest negatives can become your biggest positives.

That famous Boston incident, Courtesy of AP/Wideworld Photo

RT: You have lived an amazing life since that race in 1967 (no doubt before that as well). For example your role in establishing the Avon International Marathon (which proved a pivotal event in securing the women's marathon as an official event in the Olympic Games in 1984) truly helped shape the face of women's marathon running. If you had to choose just one or two highlights from your life thus far, what would they be?

KS: There are many highlights in my life, partly because I'm such an optimist that I find a lot of joy in things. But one of the greatest was seeing the women in the 1980 Avon Marathon come across the Westminster Bridge in London. It was the first time London streets had been closed for a sports event and I created the race that made that happen--it has since gone on to be the London Marathon! But I also knew with that race we had the required number of countries and continents to get the women's marathon in the Olympic Games, we'd worked hard to make that happen. The 2nd biggest was being in the room after frantic last-minute campaigning 6 months later when the IOC voted the women's marathon into the Olympic Games for 1984. I knew the whole world was going to change after that.

Kathrine Switzer, Marathon Woman - Courtesy of NzoneTonight

RT: What are your views on the current state of marathon running in America and around the world?

KS: It is interesting to watch the current state of marathon running, and how it changes as more countries emerge into the athletic forum. From the Brits to the Americans and then the Japanese, we all thought the Kenyans would hold dominance forever...but now it's the Ethiopians and pretty soon anybody who is born and bred at altitude will have the advantage. Ryan Hall fits that mold; he's an altitude boy.

RT: Childhood obesity is becoming a real problem for the majority of Western countries. Do you have any thoughts on ways we could combat this and hopefully increase the number of kids taking part in junior running?

KS: Childhood obesity is easy to solve. You can eat less or burn more to stay slim. And kids aren't exercising; hell, they aren't even moving! Americans are both rich and afraid--this is the first generation that doesn't have to be really worried about where food is coming from (a good thing) but afraid to let their kids go outside and play (a terrible thing). So the result is going to be a generation that will be diabetic and uninsurable. It will cost billions in health care. Children's running is a lot more fun and way cheaper--every running club in the USA should have a free kids program and every school should have a 'kids run the world' or 'kids run LA' kind of program--these cost nothing and give kids self-esteem and good health.

RT: What does the future hold for you, any grand plans?

KS: The future, I hope, is to spend more time with my husband, the great inspiration and love of my life, and to write more books. I've wanted to be a writer since I was 12, and people seem to like my books, so that is what I want to do. I'm also thinking about aging myself back into contention. Some of the Age Group 90+ records are pretty soft.

Kathrine's website