Avon International Women's Championship Marathon

Enlarge Image Image Gallery TOP: The start . . . and the people responsible, Kathrine Switzer and Dr. von Aaken. ABOVE LEFT: Gayle Barron. ABOVE CENTER: Before the start. ABOVE FAR RIGHT: Cindy Dalrymple displays perfect form . . . INSET, TOP: Sarolta Monspart of Hungary . . . CENTER: West Germany's Manuella Agenvoorth . . . BOTTOM: 5th-place Gayle Barron. RIGHT: Ruth Anderson pushes on. FAR RIGHT: Young Tara Myler. BOTTOM: Winner Martha Cooksey

They'd come along way, all right . . . from 29 states and nine different countries . . . to run a long way: 26 miles and 385 yards, to be exact. And, equally important, those 200-plus women who assembled in Atlanta, Georgia on March 19, 1978 did so to make a very positive statement about their right to equal participation in distance running events.

You talk about your doers. You talk about alternatives to the lifestyles so many people—men . . . and women—can't (or won't) break out of. You talk about accomplishing something good for yourself that requires a sense of dedication and determination . . . that'll leave you with a no-nonsense feeling of pride (whether or not you can still stand up when it's over is another matter!) that kind of makes your whole body glow. You're talking marathon.

(Maybe you've never run at all . . . never had a desire to. If that's the case, read . . . Guidelines for Successful logging, pages 46—49 of this issue. It might just change your mind and—at the very least—get you into attempting the basics. And someday—maybe upon maybe—the mystique of the marathon will sneak up on ya!)

The women in these photographs aren't superwomen. They aren't laboratory-raised physiological phenomena. They're people . . . . . . . . . individuals who've found a fitness-addiction that they want to maintain. And—in just about every case—they started as joggers, as women who weren't able to run a mile, much less pace themselves over a hilly, demanding 26-mile-long road course in 75°—80° heat in the company of the world's very best female runners.

Which is exactly what these 225 women were doing in Atlanta at the Avon International Women's Championship Marathon . . . . . . . . . their equivalent of an Olympic marathon. In fact, this is the closest that the females of our species have ever come to such an Olympic race. You see, women aren't allowed to run a marathon in the Olympics. Aren't allowed, in fact, to run any Olympic distance over 1,500 meters.

Any why not? Well . . . as is so often the case for no reasonable reason Bureaucratic mumbo jumbo, essentially, and an incredible series of restrictions based on the archaic opinions of the gray flannel (but dyed-in-the-wool) set on the International Olympic Committee whose dignified but out-of-touch-with-reality membership has already denied women's participation in long distance running events at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games And—unless something is done—the 1984 Games could easily fall prey to the same tunnel-visioned myopia.

A LITTLE HISTORY: THE CRASH OF '67

Such "females aren't physiologically capable, etc." attitudes kept women entirely out of long-distance runs until 1967 . . . the year when an assertive young lady—Kathrine Switzer—crashed the prestigious Boston Marathon. (Ms. Switzer jumped onto the course unofficially since she couldn't run officially and—believe it or not—one of the race officials actually attempted to wrestle this "presumptuous female" from the race! He didn't succeed, though, and Kathi kept on going and finished.)