Ella desafió las normas establecidas cuando en 1967 se convirtió en la
primera mujer en correr una maratón, una prueba, hasta ese momento,
exclusivamente para hombres.
Para ello se inscribió como KV Switzer y cruzó la línea de salida con el
dorsal 261 como si fuera un corredor más. Pero Kathrine pasó a la Historia
cuando uno de los jueces a mitad de la carrera se dio cuenta y saltó tras ella
para detenerla, pero el resto de corredores se lo impidieron y la “escoltaron”
para que pudiera terminar la carrera, con un tiempo de 4 horas y 20 minutos.
Ese es uno de los momentos inolvidables de la historia de los maratones que
quedó para el recuerdo en estas fotos.
Boston Marathon’s 1st Female Entrant Recalls Historic Run
You can listen here, this story
Kathrine Switzer (born January 5, 1947) is the
first woman to run the Boston Marathon as a numbered entry. She entered and
completed the race in 1967, five years before women were officially allowed to
compete in it. Her finishing time of approximately 4 hours and 20 minutes was
nearly an hour behind the first female finisher, Bobbi Gibb. She registered
under the gender-neutral "K. V. Switzer". It was not done in an
attempt to mislead the officials; she had long used "K. V. Switzer"
to sign the articles she wrote for her college paper. Race official Jock Semple
attempted to remove her from the race, and is noted to have shouted, "Get
the hell out of my race and give me those numbers." However, Switzer's
boyfriend, who was running with her, shoved Semple aside and sent him flying.
The photographs taken of the incident made world headlines.
As a result of her run, the AAU barred women from
all competition with male runners, on pain of losing the right to compete.
Switzer won the 1974 New York City Marathon, with
a time of 3:07:29. Her personal best time for the marathon distance is 2:51:37,
at Boston in 1975.
She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2011.
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