News & Events

It’s one of the most famous running photos in history, and it doesn’t show a champion crossing a finish line or a brokenhearted runner-up. It’s the indelible image of a 63-year-old man trying to push a 20-year-old woman out of the Boston Marathon, contending (though gender wasn’t mentioned in the rules) that women weren’t allowed.…Read More

Wow–on @BostonMarathon Day, @Eurosport France released this amazing story about me and other women runners in our successful pursuit of inclusion in running, from the early organizing  days, to Olympic inclusion, to now our work with @261Fearless.  Merci Journalist Remi Bourrieres!! “London. Boston. Paris. Perth. Jerusalem. This month of October 2021 looks like a real international marathon festival, like a return to life after the…Read More

Kathrine Switzer’s No. 261 bib shows the signs of the times: tears at the corner where a Boston Marathon official tried to rip it off her mid-race. Switzer became the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon in 1967 when she registered as “KV Switzer” (for Kathrine Virginia) to elude organizers even though there…Read More

How is your daily training/coaching/work routine doing and how challenging has it been for you in this environment? ” I am extremely fortunate in that I am in New Zealand, where we have a lot of space, fresh air, and are allowed to go outside. Attached is a funny photo of me exercising in New…Read More

Join the #261fearLESStogether Virtual Meet Run International running group 261 Fearless continues to operate worldwide, as women meet online to support each other through training. Founded in 2015 by athlete and activist Kathrine Switzer, 261 Fearless is global non-profit organisation that aims to empower women through local running clubs. Currently available in five continents, the…Read More

The fight for gender equality in athletics took center stage in 2019 when the U.S. women’s soccer team filed a lawsuit for “institutionalized gender discrimination” with the league. The team received a flood of support in their dispute, most notably when World Cup sponsor Secret Deodorant publically sided with the team, donating $529,000 to the…Read More

Kathrine Switzer, who in 1967 became the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon – wearing bib number 261 – and is the founder of the global non-profit 261 Fearless, will be in Arlington this Friday to run with the 261 Fearless Club DC Metro/VA. The short, easy run will begin at 5:30 p.m.…Read More

Dunkirk City Council and Mayor Patrice Vergriete recently dedicated their new stadium  “Stade d’Athlétisme Kathrine Switzer” (“Kathrine Switzer Stadium”) during the official inauguration ceremonies which were held on September 14-15. “Kathrine Switzer made a very strong and symbolic statement when she competed in the 1967 Boston Marathon and paved the way for women to compete…Read More

A part-time Wellingtonian and women’s running trailblazer has had a stadium named after her in France. Kathrine Switzer was the first registered woman to run in the Boston Marathon, and spends half of her time in Wellington and the rest in her native United States. The stadium, in Dunkirk, was named Stade d’Athlétisme Kathrine Switzer, or Kathrine Switzer Stadium, in…Read More

Hi Friends, All of us were shocked when Rosie Ruiz cheated in the 1980 Boston Marathon, especially me who was doing the coverage of the elite women in the race from a golf cart alongside and never saw her.  But I grabbed her afterward and interviewed her, it became an interview in which she incriminated…Read More

It was a chilly day in Boston on the morning of April 19, 1967. It had started to sleet, adding to the chill. Forgoing the more exposed t-shirt and shorts, most runners had decided to keep their sweatshirts and pants on. Among the runners was Kathrine Switzer, a 20-year-old woman, excited to run in her…Read More

She didn’t know it at the time, but a photograph of Kathrine Switzer running in the 1967 Boston Marathon would become an iconic image for sports and women’s equality. The image showed Switzer, No. 261, in the middle of several men, as a race official attempts to pull her off the course. Switzer’s boyfriend, however,…Read More

  She didn’t know it at the time, but a photograph of Kathrine Switzer running in the 1967 Boston Marathon would become an iconic image for sports and women’s equality. The image showed Switzer, No. 261, in the middle of several men, as a race official attempts to pull her off the course. Switzer’s boyfriend,…Read More

The controversy that swirled around this iconic event — a woman running in a men-only marathon — tends to diminish the athletic achievements of one of the world’s most renowned female runners. Kathrine went on to run Boston eight times, bettering her first time in 1967 of four hours 20 minutes down to 2 hours…Read More

Four hours, 20 minutes. That was how long it took Boston Marathon participant No. 261 to run 26.2 miles on April 19, 1967 — a run taht catapulted 20-year-old Kathrine Switzer from anonymity to historical icon in her sport and for gender equality. As the first woman to officially register complete the race as a…Read More

In a New York Times essay last March, Maine-based writer Caitlin Shetterly described her joy in gritty, cold winter runs and the way these runs often spark creative thoughts. “On a run, ideas will bubble up,” she wrote. “Like little ice floes in warming waters, they’ll drift unencumbered until I can see them gleaming in the sun.” Just…Read More

Last month, around 30,000 runners raced the Boston Marathon, with women making up about 45 percent of the field. But in 1967, there was only one woman with an official bib: Kathrine Switzer. Aside from training for months through the bleak winter, the 20-year-old journalism student had to break barriers, overcoming prejudice, criticism and ridicule just…Read More