Kathrine Switzer

Kathrine Switzer ( Virginia Kathrine " Kathy " Switzer, born January 5, 1947 in Amberg ) is an American pioneer of the marathon for women.

The daughter of a major in the United States Army she was born in Germany. In 1949 the family returned to the United States.

At age 12, she started every day a mile to run, to be fitter than Hockey. As a journalism student at Syracuse University, she trained with the male track and field team. The coach of the cross country teams Arnie Briggs, who had participated 15 times at the Boston Marathon, she brought the idea to participate in this race in 1967. At that time, women were officially allowed only for competitions to 800 m. Since they themselves as " K. V. Switzer, " together with Briggs and her friend, the hammer thrower Tom Miller, filed, no one drew suspicion in the organization of the race.

After a few miles of the race director Jock Semple discovered that a woman was wearing an official race number, and tried to demolish the Switzer number. However, Miller came to the aid of his girlfriend and shoved Semple aside so that Switzer was able to continue the race and after four hours and 20 minutes reached the goal. The scuffle had taken place in front of the Pressebus, and so the photos were of this incident around the world and triggered intense debate about women's sport from. Switzer was indeed excluded two days after the running of the Amateur Athletic Union, but continued to run unofficial race.

1972 women were officially admitted in Boston for the first time then. Switzer was third in 3:29:51 h In the same year, she cried with Fred Lebow, founder of the New York City Marathon, the Crazylegs Mini Marathon (now New York Mini 10K) launched the first road race only for women. In 1973, she finished fourth in Boston, second in the New York City Marathon and won the Maryland Marathon, 1974, she was fifth in Boston and won both in New York City as well as in Maryland. In 1975 she was runner-up in Boston with her personal best of 2:51:37 h and seventh in New York City.

In 1977, she convinced the cosmetics company Avon with the concept of an international women's race series. The 1978-1984 annual discharged Avon Marathon contributed substantially to that of the woman Marathon 1984 part of the Olympics was what Switzer had campaigned since she was accredited in 1972 as a journalist at the Olympic Games in Munich. In 1987 she married the New Zealand literature professor and runner Roger Robinson. Besides her work as a run organizer, she acts as a book author and Fernsehkommentarin.

On the occasion of the publication of the German translation of her autobiography in 2011 she ran the Berlin Marathon for the 39th time a contest over the 42,195 -km distance. With a time of 4:36:32 h, they finished 56th place in the age group W60.

Publications

  • Running and walking for women over 40 1998 Running and walking. The gentle program for women over 40 Rowohlt Paperback -Verlag, Reinbek 2000, ISBN 3-499-19488-0
  • Fascination of the marathon. Stories and images about the magical 42.195 km. West, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-517-08235-6
  • The Girl Who Started It All, abstract in Runner's World, March 26, 2007
  • Marathon Woman. The woman who revolutionized the sport of running. Spomedis, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-936376-62-3
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