Off The Ball interview with Kathrine Switzer- first woman to run Boston marathon.

Heliotrope

https://soundcloud.com/off-the-ball/kathrine-switzer-on-off-the

myflipflops

Anyone who is unfamiliar with the story of Kathrine Switzer in the 1967 Boston marathon should check this out. Interview with Eoin McDevitt (a marathoner himself) on Off The Ball

https://soundcloud.com/off-the-ball/kathrine-switzer-on-off-the

Apart from the input she had for womens sport, she was actually a great runner in her own right and took her marathon time from 4.20 on debut to 2.51 in the end.

rom

Little bit more info

http://corkrunning.blogspot.ie/2012/03/katherine-switzerthe-first-woman-to.html

Abhainn

Heard this last night just after coming in from a solid Boston session.
This was a good interview and she came across very well

wideball

Very good interview from Marathon Talk with her a few months ago. More in depth.
http://www.marathontalk.com/podcast/episode_117_kathrine_switzer_part_one.php
http://www.marathontalk.com/podcast/episode_118_kathrine_switzer_part_two.php

ootbitb

Don't believe everything you hear on radio .Bobbie Gibb was the first woman to complete the Boston Marathon.

opus

Caught an interview with Katherine Switzer on the repeat of Off the Ball this morning, knowing how much Newstalk love to repeat stuff guessing it's the same one from two years ago! Link to the part of the show is here.

Was a really nice interview to listen to, hadn't realised she became friends with Jock Semple, the guy who tried to remove her from the Boston marathon in later life!

Tigerandahalf

I only read a bit about her the other day. She wasn't the first woman to complete the marathon distance it seems as another woman ran the race the previous year without a race number. Switzer entered the race using the initials of her first name so her name wouldn't stand out. I met a US olympian recently whose wife was one of the first women to run the race as part of the Class of 72.

TFBubendorfer

opus wrote: »

Was a really nice interview to listen to, hadn't realised she became friends with Jock Semple, the guy who tried to remove her from the Boston marathon in later life!

Not only that, this was a full "Road to Damascus" moment for Jock Semple, who in the following years became a great supporter for the "women into marathons" cause. Slightly unfortunately for him, he is mostly remembered for that incidence, which portrays him as a chauvinist.

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

She wasn't the first woman to complete the marathon distance it seems as another woman ran the race the previous year without a race number.

K.S. was the first woman to run Boston with an official number. However, in previous years woman had indeed been running and their times were recorded and publicised - though of course not in the official results.

eoinín

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

K.S. was the first woman to run Boston with an official number. However, in previous years woman had indeed been running and their times were recorded and publicised - though of course not in the official results.

It was interesting that in the interview Katherine herself brought up the fact that she was not the first female marathoner or first female Boston marathoner. I had wondered if she had played down the role of previous women runners, but no, she was happily admitting that she wasn't the first.