The Women of the Boston Marathon

Last week marked the 122nd running of the Boston Marathon, one of the most competitive marathons in the world.  And what an event it was!  Always challenging, this year featured torrential rains, high winds and freezing temperatures.  The runners battled hypothermia as much as they battled Heartbreak Hill.  

A woman didn’t compete officially for the first time until 1967.  Last year, Kathrine Switzer ran the London marathon with 261 on her bib — the same number she wore 51 years ago.  Last year, almost 12,000 women competed.

Another woman had already finished the race, albeit unofficially.  In February of 1966, 23-year-old Roberta “Bobbi” Gibb applied to the Boston Athletic Association to participate in the race.  They denied her request stating that “This is an AAU Men’s Division race only,” wrote race director Will Cloney. “Women aren’t allowed, and furthermore are not physiologically able.”  Gibb had grown up in Boston but lived in San Diego at the time.  She boarded a bus, tucked her ponytail into her hoodie and hid in some bushes near the starting line.  She slipped in the pack and joined the runners.  She finished the race in a time of 3 hours, 21 minutes and 40 seconds—more than 13 minutes ahead of the 2017 Boston qualifying time for the 18 to 34 age group—and finished in the top third of the pack.  She did it on feet that were blistered and bleeding from wearing a new pair of boys running shoes - they didn’t make running shoes for women back then.

Said a “Sports Illustrated” reporter: “Last week a tidy-looking and pretty 23-year-old blonde had a performance that should do much to phase out the old-fashioned notion that a female is too frail for distance running.”  A women’s division was sanctioned at Boston and all other marathons by the AAU in 1972.

This year - with its terrible conditions - had much slower times and higher drop out rates than in years past.  But finishing rates varied significantly by gender. For men, the dropout rate was up almost 80% from 2017; for women, it was up only about 12%. Overall, 5% of men dropped out, versus just 3.8% of women. The trend was true at the elite as well as amateur level.  More women stuck it out and finished the race.  This year doesn’t seem a fluke as the same disparity was true for an unusually hot 86-degree race day in 2012. In that race, women also persevered and finished at higher rates than men.  This is leading some people to ask whether women are simply better able to withstand extreme conditions.  

Americans in the elite races provided some evidence. Galen Rupp, favored to win the men’s race, dropped out around the 20-mile mark with hypothermia; in the women’s race the favorites Molly Huddle and Shalane Flanagan finished the race albeit with paces much slower than predicted. In the early miles, the elite women actually worked together; Desiree Linden, another favorite, struggled and told Flanagan she thought she might quit, but hung in to support her teammates a few more miles for as they pursued an American victory. And victory they won.  Linden bounced back and won the race with a time of 2:39:54. The first American woman to win the race in 33 years.