Women make their mark on Boston Marathon history

Today, at the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel, the Boston Athletic Association will introduce its field of 30 elite international runners for the 116th Boston Marathon.Fourteen of those runners are women ? and it is appropriate to take a moment to reflect on the achievements women have made, and will undoubtedly continue to make, in what is arguably the signature athletic event in Boston.This year is a Marathon women’s milestone mark, as it represents 40 years since the coronation of the first official women’s winner: Nina Kuscsik in 1972. Note the word “official.”In the years before Kuscsik’s precedent-setting victory, women had run in the Marathon in an unofficial context, with some having to battle Marathon officials to enter and compete. Indeed, it was only in the fall of 1971 that the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) allowed women to compete in its marathons, Boston among them.The list of Boston pioneers includes Roberta Gibb, the first woman to finish a full Boston Marathon, which she did from 1966 through 1968. According to the BAA website, Gibb “hid in the bushes near the start until the race began.” In 1967, Gibb was joined by Katherine Switzer, whose Marathon run was thus described by the BAA: “Katherine Switzer did not clearly identify herself as a female on the race application and was issued a bib number. B.A.A. officials tried unsuccessfully to physically remove Switzer from the race once she was identified as a woman entrant.”Gibb, Switzer and Kuscsik all did their part to ensure that women could compete in the Marathon. Just four decades later, the list of female runners’ achievements is impressive. Consider the elite field. On that list is last year’s women’s winner, Caroline Kilel of Kenya, who finished the 2011 race in 2:22.36, just two seconds ahead of American Desiree Davila. Nine women on the list have finished a marathon in under 2:25, including three in Boston: Kilel, Rita Jeptoo of Kenya (2:23.38 in 2006) and Caroline Rotich of Kenya (2:24.26 last year).Of course, in the years between 1972 and 2012, women certainly achieved much in the Marathon as well. We certainly remember two-time winner Joan Benoit Samuelson, who not only won in Boston (1979 and 1983) but also went on to win Olympic gold in 1984. Samuelson will appear with the elite runners today and is, in fact, running the Marathon again this year. She ran last year and finished in under three hours: 2:51.29.When it comes to runners with North Shore ties, Shalane Flanagan of Marblehead has not run the Boston Marathon, but she has one very big marathon achievement on her resume. In January, she won the women’s U.S. trials for the 2012 London Olympics in the marathon. In fact, she set a course record of 2:25.38 in only her second marathon (New York was her first, in 2010, and she finished second).To all the women who will compete on Patriots’ Day, congratulations and good luck. And to all those who served as an inspiration from the late 1960s onward, congratulations as well.Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].