Some wild facts about the first women to run the Boston Marathon in 1966/1967

Bobbi Gibb was the first.

She hid before the race and jumped out just after the start.

Bobbi trained for two years, then wrote to the Boston Athletic Association saying she wanted to run and asking what she had to do.

After submitting her application to run, Bobbi got a letter from the race director informing her women were not physiologically capable of running marathon distances, & under the rules governing amateur sports, women were not allowed to run more than 1.5 miles competitively.

She got on a bus and traveled across the US for 4 days to reach Boston.

All of 23 years old, she was terrified to be arrested when she arrived, but the male runners (and the crowd!) were welcoming to her!

She ran in white leather Red Cross nurses' shoes because there were no running shoes available for women at the time.

By the time Bobbi reached the finish line in Boston, the Governor of Massachusetts, John Volpe, was there to shake her hand.

She finished in 3hrs, 21m, 40, better than two-thirds of the (male) runners.

Oh, and she went on to basically become a Renaissance Woman, although she was denied entry to medical school on the basis of gender:

“Women can't run in because the rules forbid it. Unless we have rules, society will be in chaos. I don't make the rules, but I try to carry them out. We have no space for any unauthorized person, even a man.

If that girl were my daughter, I would spank her.”

—BAA Director

The following year (1967), Katherine Switzer ran alongside Bobbi Gibb & was the first woman to run as a registered competitor (using her initials).

The race director assaulted her multiple times during the race. Here is her first-hand account.

Source: https://kathrineswitzer.com/1967-boston-marathon-the-real-story/

The Amateur Athletic Union banned women from competing in races against men as a result of Katherine’s run, and it was not until 1972 that the Boston Marathon established an official women's race.

Women won the right to compete in the marathon six years after Bobbi’s first run, and five years after Katherine’s.

Inspirational.

This was only like 55 years ago y’all