It was a historic moment for female athletes.In 1967, Kathrine Switzer entered and completed the Boston Marathon in 1967, five years before women were officially allowed to compete in it. She was the first woman to run the Boston marathon and was registered in the race. (The first unregistered person was Bobbi Gibb in 1966.) She registered, collected her numbers, put them on and started the race.
After realizing that a woman had somehow registered and was running, race organizer Jock Semple chased after Switzer shouting: "Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers."
Switzer’s boyfriend and other male runners provided a protective shield during the entire marathon and she was able to outpace Semple. The photograph above was taken during the incident and made world headlines.
Her finishing time of approximately 4 hours and 20 minutes.
Kathrine later won the 1974 NYC marathon (women's category) with a time of 3:07:29.
Her personal best time for the marathon distance is 2:51:37, at Boston in 1975, where she took 2nd place.
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.
In 1997 Kathrine wrote Running and Walking for Women over 40. She released her memoir, Marathon Woman in April 2007 on the 40th anniversary of her first running the Boston Marathon.
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