Switzer still motivating force for women athletes
By tim morris
Staff Writer

FREEHOLD — Kathrine Switzer is still blazing new trails.

The first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon back in 1967, Switzer is now the Director of Women’s Health for RYKA, the only athletic footwear company that manufactures shoes and other equipment exclusively for women.

That role brought Switzer, one of the most important figures in the history of women’s athletics, to Freehold on June 1, to help kick off RYKA’s Take Fitness to Heart program. It is a eight-week training program, culminating with the RYKA Take Fitness to Heart Race on July 27 at the Battlefield State Park in Manalapan, The Freehold Area Running Club is sponsoring the training clinic, which will help prepare runners for the 5K and 10K races that will be held next month. Runners are meeting Thursday nights on the cinder track at Michael J. Tighe Park, under the direction of certified RRCA trainer Tom Dunsheath. The women are not just participating in a training program which will enable them to run the 5K or 10K race of their choice, but also discussing nutrition and other health and fitness issues.

"I was there to encourage women to get started and commit to the event regardless of their experience," said Switzer, a member on the inaugural Distance Running Hall of Fame Class of 1998. "For a lot of women it’s a question of how to get started."

With Switzer, who was running in a climate in which it was generally accepted that women couldn’t run five miles, let alone a 26.2-mile marathon (it wasn’t until the 1972 Olympics that women first ran the 1,500 meters and the marathon did not debut until 1984), as a role model, the women participating in the training program (more than 30), aren’t lacking for inspiration.

Switzer knows the commitment is easier said than done.

"There are challenges awaiting them," she pointed out. "There are time constraints and matters of self esteem. Women in general put everyone else first. They need to take the time and make an investment in their health and fitness."

One of the biggest messages that Switzer and RYKA are trying to get across to women is health.

"Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women," Switzer pointed out. "People are waking up to this. Daily exercise, even if limited, reduces the risk."

Running, of course, is one of the ideal ways to exercise, and the RYKA Take Fitness to Heart events are designed to bring the two together.

The training program is for women of all ages. Switzer pointed out that age myths and barriers are being shattered daily, and that it is never too late for women to get started.

"We see a lot of women coming out to run because they see their daughters running," said Switzer. "It’s wonderful. We see a lot of mother/daughter teams in these events."

Running shoes are another issue. There has never been a shoe specifically designed for women. Other running shoe manufacturers use one model for their shoes, according to Switzer, ignoring the difference in men’s and women’s feet.

"It’s hard to get women into running shoes," Switzer noted. "Women’s feet are different structurally. Women’s feet are wider in the front and narrower at the heel."

Women’s running clinics and their own line of athletic footwear are a far cry from the era when Switzer dared to break the gender barrier at the Boston Marathon. Her Boston Marathon story is the most requested when she makes speaking appearance. It’s one that she has delivered often, yet ceases to become stale. It’s an example of how far back into the dark ages those times were, and how far women’s athletics has come thanks to her courage and resolve that April day.

Switzer signed in for the race as K.V. Switzer, not to be duplicitous or hide anything, but simply because she always signed her name that way. She had always wanted to be a writer and it seemed to her that all of the great writers — W.B. Yeats, J.D. Salinger and E.E. Cummings — were known by their initials.

However, once the famed race from Hopkington to Boston began, with Switzer making no attempt to hide her gender, everyone noticed that she was a female. She received support from the male runners, who cheered her on. Soon, photographers noticed that there was something unusual about this Boston Marathon, there was a girl in the race, and they began taking pictures.

When her presence came to the knowledge of race co-director Jock Semple, it didn’t sit very well with him. None too thrilled with what Switzer was doing, he tried to physically remove her from the race.

"I saw him just before he pounced, and let me tell you I was scared to death" recalled Switzer. "He was out of control."

It made for one of the most memorable photographs ever, Semple grabbing Switzer’s shirt in an effort to forcibly remove her from the race. Her boyfriend at the time was the running the race with her and retaliated with a body block that sent Semple airborne. Switzer was able to complete the race, and Boston and the world saw the dawn of a new age, women’s distance racing.

"Afterwards. I decided to use this experience to insure that other women who wanted to run would not be subjected to the same treatment," she said. "I became an organizer and an outspoken proponent for women’s physical capability."

Since Switzer had to anonymously enter the Boston Marathon, women’s distance running has reached the point where England’s Paula Radcliffe captured world headlines back in April, when she won the London Marathon in 2:15:25. No one knew who the overall winner was as Radcliffe stole the day with her remarkable women’s world record.

"Young girls need role models for inspiration and they need someone who looks like the girl next door," said Switzer, who won the New York City Marathon in 1974. "That’s Paula. She’s the girl next door."

Women were introduced to another role model last month, when Annika Sorenstam joined the men to play in PGA event. As a trailblazer herself, Switzer had in some ways paved the way for Sorenstam. She was thrilled for Sorenstam, and what it meant for women, but there were still issues."I thought it was fantastic," she said. "I was stunned that her playing was an issue. Millions saw her who had never seen her play before. An awful lot of young girls will be playing golf because of her."

When Switzer was breaking new ground in the 1960’s there were societal pressures as well as the myths surrounding the limited physical ability of women to run long distances.

However, though she and others have proved that there are no limitations, challenges still remain.

"There is no sense of limitation," Switzer explained. "The issues today are acceptance and structuring the events that showcase women athletes and what they can do.

"Women’s athletics has grown a lot more than I visioned back in 1967 but, there are still huge areas for growth," she added.

Switzer was one of the leaders in getting the women’s marathon into the Olympics and the Avon Running Global Women’s Circuit she started was a catalyst.

Thanks to what Switzer started, there has been a re-evaluation of what women can achieve athletically.

"Women have unique athletic gifts dif­ferent from me," she said. "They have in­credible endurance and the ability to sus­tain that endurance longer."

The next frontier is specific equipment for women, where once again, Switzer is leading the way.

Anyone who is interested in learning more about the RYKA training program or the July 27 race should call the Freehold Area Running Club at (732) 431-2627 or visit the club’s Web site at farcnj.com.