MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Winter / Spring 2018

44 MLCM WINTER/SPRING 2018 words :: Feet Banks On April 19, 1967 a 20-year-old woman named Kathrine Switzer entered the Boston Marathon wearing bib number 261. Women had always been banned from the event because they were perceived as “too fragile” to run a full 26 miles. Switzer had registered under the name she used when writing for her college paper, the gender neutral “K.V. Switzer.” Mid-race, an old, white dude/race official named Jock Semple rushed onto the course to physically stop Switzer and seize her bib. Other racers, including Switzer’s boyfriend, recognized the right thing to do and pushed Jock Semple to the ground so she could finish the race (with a time of 4:20:02). Photographs of the altercation spread across the country. Amidst the surge of outrage, the head of the Boston Athletic Association retorted with, “Women can’t run in the marathon because the rules forbid it. Unless we have rules, society will be in chaos… if that girl were my daughter, I would spank her.” Five years later, due in part to constant pressure from Switzer and other athletes, the rules changed, women were officially allowed to run, and society somehow didn’t crumble. In her book about the event, Switzer says, “I knew if I quit, nobody would ever believe that women had the capability to run 26-plus miles. If I quit, everybody would say it was a publicity stunt. If I quit, it would set women’s sports back, way back, instead of forward. If I quit, I’d never run Boston. If I quit, Jock Semple and all those like him would win. My fear and humiliation turned to anger.” Fifty years later, at the age of 70, Switzer returned to Boston and raced again, posting a time of 4:44:31. Her infamous bib number 261 was retired after the race, in honour of the woman who not only changed the game, but evolved the entire sport. The interesting thing is that Switzer was not the only woman running on that historic day in 1967. Another woman, Bobbi Gibb, ran unregistered and beat Switzer’s finishing time by nearly an hour. Gibb had raced a year prior, and is recognized as the first woman to complete the Boston Marathon. But Switzer’s story is the one that captured the world’s attention and changed the game, because it was far more visible. Here in the mountains, we don’t need race bibs to be taken seriously. We know that the world won’t crumble when women succeed, because they’ve been doing it all along (Lucy Walker became the first woman to climb the Matterhorn in 1871), but we still have work to do with regards to their exposure. And so, these stories (and entire issue) are about shining a light onto some of the incredible women, athletes, mentors, mothers, rippers and trail breakers who live for the mountains, oceans and sense of freedom that a life lived outside provides. Because making a mark, inspiring others, or changing the world is a hell of a lot easier when you have a chance to be seen and heard. F I R S T Y o u C a n ’ t B e W h o Y o u C a n ’ t S e e l A D I E S FEATURE