2022 Boston Marathon celebrates 50th anniversary of official women’s division

The 2022 Boston Marathon will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the official inclusion of women in the race, where American Nina Kuscsik emerged the winner of the eight-woman field with a time of 3:10:26.

But female athletes’ road to inclusion was no smooth sailing.

In 1966, Roberta “Bobbi” Gibb took advantage of a loophole in the Boston Athletic Association’s entry criteria, which did not list any gender restrictions, and became the first woman to run the full Boston Marathon. She ran without an official race number for three years (1966-68), famously hiding in the bushes near the start until the race began.

The following year, Kathrine Switzer signed her entry form as “K. V. Switzer” and was issued a bib number. In an infamous incident documented by photographers, B.A.A. officials tried unsuccessfully to physically remove her from the race, citing that the Amateur Athletics Union (A.A.U.) had not yet formally allowed women in long distance running.

The A.A.U. permitted women to enter its sanctioned marathons in the fall of 1971, and eight women took to the start line in the 1972 Boston Marathon. Kuscsik became the first official champion, and all eight women finished the race.

“The things people would say about why we should not be able to run long distance was crazy,” recalls Valerie Rogosheske, one of the original eight finishers in 1972. “Like, our uteruses would fall out, and we wouldn’t be able to have children, or it was just not good for our health in general. I think they were afraid that the endurance aspect of it would cause us to faint or something. I’m not sure, but it was it was pretty crazy.”

Now 75, Rogosheske will join the 14,000 women participants in this year’s race, including daughters Abigail and Al