Earlier this year I was inspired by the influx of positive and glowing posts on social media for International Women’s Day. I also enjoyed the many people who pointed the men who needed some validation that there was, in fact, an International Men’s Day in November too….
It got me thinking that women have, unsurprisingly, had a difficult journey in sporting success, with running being no exception to that. It wasn’t until 1980 that ‘they’ found zero evidence that running a marathon was detrimental to a women’s body and hey presto, from 1984 we were then allowed to compete in the Olympic Marathon. 1980 is not that long ago. In fact, most of the ‘progress’ women have made in running has been in the past 30-40 years. That’s within my lifetime and likely yours too. Oh, and Joan Benoit won the women’s marathon at those 1984 LA Games in a casual 2:24:52.
I did a bit of reading around some of the women who have made strides in the running world and loved some of the things I read so I thought I would pop them down here. In fact, the more I read, the more I realised there really is a lot to write about. So in the interests of brevity, these are just a few of my favourites, in no particular order.
5. Kathrine Switzer and the iconic 1967 Boston Marathon
A blog on women’s running would not be complete without the very well known tale of Kathrine Switzer, who entered the Boston Marathon in 1967 under the gender neutral name ‘K V Switzer.’ At mile 4, the race director noticed that she was, god forbid, a woman and he quite literally lunged at her in a bid to take her down. The photo of him doing this is pretty iconic – as is the fact that Kathrine went on to finish that marathon.
On Kathrine’s website you can find the ‘The Real Story’, where she has posted an excerpt from her memoir describing her experience of that day. It’s a super interesting read which gives context to the story, but also addresses some of the elements which became slightly factually inaccurate as the story made its way through various channels over many years.
This is also a great read exploring the impact that Kathrine’s race that day had on running: The right to Potential: On the dramatic history of women’s elite running.
Nowadays, Kathrine is a public speaker, broadcaster and author and also founded a non-profit called 261 Fearless.
4. The invention of the sports bra
Now if you have boobs, then I don’t how you would feel about running without a sports bra on – for me I think I’d have done my back in a long time ago!! Unbelievably, it took another decade from Switzler’s marathon triumph above for the concept of the ‘jogbra’ to be created. In 1997, taking inspiration from the mens jockstrap, three American ladies created what is now the underlying design for almost every racer back bra you see. Despite their idea being totally revolutionary for women in sport at the time, they still had to persuade the male-dominated sports industry and stores that they should stock a women’s bra and that it wasn’t lingerie…
Of course, it became a commercial success and not just a piece of clothing, but a symbol of development in gender equality in sport and athleticism.
3. Paula Radcliffe’s GB decade-and-a-half long world marathon record
Paula Radcliffe did an absolute banger of a run for all British women in 2003 when she ran the London Marathon in 2:15:25, a record held for a mammoth 16 YEARS before Bridget Koskei broke it in just 2019. East Africans are now the dominant force in middle and long distance running, so for this to be held for a decade and a half by a British woman definitely makes it onto my list of personal favourites.
2. First Saudi Arabian Olympic competitors
A fascinating turn of events in surprisingly recent years was in 2012 when Sarah Attar became the first Saudi Arabian woman to compete in Olympic track and field. Attar is actually half Saudi, holding dual nationality and living in the US, and as she crossed the line in the women’s 800m event in last place, her performance and presence gave way to a standing ovation of applause. Saudi Arabia had just days earlier entered their first ever female Judo competitor in the games too. Even more interestingly, 2012 was the year that three countries (Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei) brought female athletes for the first time, making it the first ever Olympics where every national team included female athletes.
Since 2012 a handful more women have competed for Saudi Arabia in the Olympics. Considering widespread discrimination in the country still prevents many females from accessing sport and activity, let’s hope the progress made at this high level can start to trickle through the society too.
1. Sophie Power breastfeeding on a 100 mile mountain race
Mother and ultrarunner Sophie became thrust into the international spotlight when a photo of her breastfeeding her 3 month old during the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) went viral. Now society loves to analyse things that women do and despite this being a perfectly natural and maternal thing to do, it led to the inevitable debate about motherhood and women in sport.
Interestingly the international press and sports community probably thought it was a much bigger deal than mum Sophie did. To that end, Sophie is quoted as saying ‘To be honest, I thought it was normal: I had a goal and a baby and if I could manage both of them why wouldn’t I do that?’
The backdrop to this is interesting too though, as Sophie had a place for the UTMB, her dream race, in 2014 but she had to give it up when she became pregnant. The organisers would not let her defer her place. She could defer if she had an injury, but not if she was growing a small person inside her. Unfortunately this is all too similar across many international races, but Sophie is campaigning for this to change. At the time of publishing this post, Sophie has succeeded in a massive breakthrough in her campaign, as the London Marathon announced it was implementing changes to increase the inclusivity of their runners – including allowing pregnant and postpartum runners to defer their place.
Sophie comes across wonderfully in the interviews with her I have read, essentially realising that whilst feeding her baby was not groundbreaking to her, she could have a huge impact on other women. In this interview with Women’s Running, she says:
‘”That photo was about all women getting back to being themselves after having babies and still feeling able to have goals.’
What about today?
Thankfully, they let us in and it turned out us girls didn’t collapse and our ovaries didnt fall out after we went for a run (who knew!).
Gender equality in professional sport still has some way to go, but speaking at the amaeuter level, I feel that seeing the masses race, seeing mums with buggies at Park Runs and seeing women of all ages, shapes and abilities running around your local park is where the true gains are. It is important to note that there are still plenty of factors that affect women in the running world, from pregnancy and birth, to diversity in representation, to safety when out alone – those things must be recognised and improved on, but I won’t go into them in this post here.
For now – let’s remember that International Women’s Day is just one day of the year, and there are 364 other days in the year to be celebrating and encouraging the women in your life who are working hard and breaking barriers every day. Every time you lace up and make a choice to go on a run, you don’t know who you are inspiring – so keep at it, and let’s continue to run together.
What are your favourite breakthrough moments in sport and running?
Love,
Ele x
chasingele.com 