On September 19, 1971, Beth Bonner crossed the finish line of the New York City Marathon, making her the first woman to win the race. She also clocked the first sub-three hour marathon and at 19 years old, she remains the youngest woman to win the race to this day. Most of all, her win was a victory against the misogynistic regulations that had historically deemed women too weak to run 26.2 miles.
Rebelling against athletic gender stereotypes was not a new phenomenon, but in the early 1970’s Bonner’s win ushered in a new era of women’s long distance racing. Even at the first Olympic marathon in 1896, allegedly one or two women snuck in to run the race. In 1967, Katherine Switzer made headlines when she skirted the “men’s only” marathon rule by cleverly registering as “K. Switzer” for the Boston Marathon. She was two miles into the race when officials caught on and tried to physically remove her. Switzer’s male Syracuse teammates blocked them, allowing her to finish the race.
The first New York City Marathon was in 1970, but, like the Boston Marathon, the organizers followed the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) regulations that barred women. New York City lifted the ban in 1971, allowing Bonner to run the New York City race. She and the second place finisher, Nina Kuscik, proved that women had the fortitude to run 26.2 miles, when they were the first women to run the race in under three hours.
Recognizing that women were strong enough to race, the 1972 New York City Marathon organizers allowed them to officially run, but only if they agreed to start 10 minutes before or after the men’s race. Unbeknownst to the organizers, the six female entrants organized a sit down strike against the rule. They agreed to start 10 minutes before the men, but then sat down holding up protest signs when the starting gun was fired. When the men’s race started, the six women stood up and started running… and women ran alongside men in the marathon ever since.
In 1984, a women’s marathon was finally added as an official Summer Olympics race. Of the 51, 388 finishers at the 2016 New York City Marathon, 21, 457 of the runners were women!
