Allen Kee/ESPN Images(BOSTON) — The 121st Boston Marathon got underway Monday morning as racers and observers remember the bombing attack, which took place four years ago on April 15, 2013. The race also marked the return of a marathon legend.
Kathrine Switzer, who in 1967 became the first woman to ever complete the Boston Marathon, will be running in the race again this year.
In 1967, Switzer was a 20-year-old Syracuse University student, and one iconic photo captured her running while Jock Semple, then the co-director of the race according to The Washington Post, tried to rip off her race number. She will be wearing that same number, 261, in this year’s race.
Now 70-years-old, Switzer has run 39 marathons in her life, the last coming in 2011. She also won the New York City Marathon in 1974. She last ran in the Boston Marathon in 1976.
An advocate for equal rights in sports, Switzer successfully campaigned for the Olympics to adopt the women’s marathon as a sport in 1984. She started the nonprofit 261 Fearless in 2015, which uses running to empower women around the world.
In 1967, Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to run #BostonMarathon as a registered entrant. Today, she’s all smiles before her last 26.2 pic.twitter.com/cqFiWfNEu8
— Chris Chavez (@ChrisChavez) April 17, 2017
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