A Fast History of Women's Running by Nich Haber

In the heat of the Beijing Marathon, right at the halfway mark, Constantina Dita-Tomescu took off with her characteristic mid race surge. Many of us had seen this trick before. The chase pack was still pretty formidable. Pre-race favorite Catherine “The Great” Ndereba pushed on, as usual saving her best for the second half of the race. By her side were two local favorites Chunxiu Zhou who had beat Dita by 3 minutes in London last year and her compatriot Xiolin Zhu. Also in the pack were the ever dangerous Kenyan Martha Komu and the world record holder Paula Radcliffe of the UK. Ladies, we had a race worth watching.

How did we get here, then? For the longest time, it was thought that distance running was unhealthy for women. They weren’t built for it. Their uteruses would fall out. They would simply break.

The grandest stage for track and field, the Olympics, did not have a distance event for women until the 1972 Games in Munich when Ludmila Bragina of the Soviet Union ran a then world record 4:01.38 in the metric mile. Road racing was unthinkable.

Boston, the most prestigious and longest annually run marathon in the world, simply did not allow women to compete. In 1967 Katherine Switzer decided to break that taboo. Registered as “K. Switzer”, she had an official number and toed the line in Hopkington. When the race official, Jock Semple, saw a female coming down the course, he literally tried to rip her number off of her jersey and throw her out of the race. Katherine surged ahead and didn’t stop until the finish line.


Katherine Switzer slowed by Jock Semple 1967 Boston Marathon
AP/Wideworld Photo

Back then, running professionally as a woman wasn’t an option. If you won a serious road race, you’d be lucky to get anything more than a firm handshake. If there was cash, it was almost always less than what the guys got.

The signature event of the Olympics, the marathon, did not become a women’s event until Los Angeles in 1984. Joan Benoit, the pocket marvel from Maine surged at the halfway mark and never looked back.

This year, Contantina Dita-Tomescu, held on to win the marathon in Beijing. Her tactics came from Joan Benoit, her opportunity came from Katherine Switzer and her inspiration came from all of the other women runners before her. So when you toe the line at the Second Annual Classic this year, feel the inspiration that comes from these women, as well as from the women around you, then put in that surge around the halfway mark and don’t look back.