Kathrine Switzer was born on January 5, 1947. Starting at a young age Switzer would run 1 mile every day, and upon reaching college she upped this to 3 miles a day.
In 1966, a male team track coach asked her to run the 880 and by the time she finished, Switzer had decided that she wanted to run competitively. Switzer competed in 220, 440 and 880 races but was often frustrated with women not being allowed to compete in longer distances.
With the help of Arnie Briggs, Kathrine Switzer started to train for the Boston Marathon. Despite women not being allowed to run, and her physically getting halted by an official, Switzer still went on to be the first woman to finish the race in 1967.
From here Kathrine Switzer went on to be an advocate for sports equality for women and even got the Boston Marathon to officially accept women runners in 1972. Thanks to her efforts, the Boston Marathon had 11,970 female participants compete in the 2019 race on April 15th.
Today Switzer has competed in over 41 marathons and has been praised for her accomplishments by receiving many awards including being ranked the sixth fastest women in the world.
Kathrine Switzer has helped change the face of racing by proving that women are just as capable as men. To learn more about Kathrine Switzer’s life and accomplishments click here!
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