6 Jun 2023 | Women's ultrarunning history |
The history of women’s six day ultra races has been overshadowed by the focus on the men’s record. The impetus for writing this series of posts came from interviewing Eleanor Robinson and Lorna Richey Michael (interview to be published soon) about their involvement in...
7 Apr 2023 | Women's ultrarunning history |
This week marks 100 years since the remarkable Mothers’ Marathon and I’d like to invite you to take a moment to reflect on the astounding achievement of five exceptional women: Lily Groom; Rose Firmager; Alice Sunderland; Ada May Edwards and Margaret Oliver. I am...
4 Apr 2023 | Women's ultrarunning history |
Women’s participation in road running in the UK has grown considerably in the past 15 years and it is not uncommon for women to make up over 40% of finishers in road races. Yet in ultrarunning, women’s participation is much lower, perhaps around 30%, but this varies...
2 Mar 2023 | General running history |
The Notts 10 mile road race is said to be the oldest road race in Nottinghamshire and is one of the oldest in the East Midlands. But last year its future was in doubt, after Notts AC, who had organised the race for 50 years, decided to discontinue it. As the Notts 10...
10 Dec 2022 | Women's marathon history |
The official programme for the inaugural London Marathon in 1981 described Leslie Watson as “the Queen of the Roads”. Her prolific racing led to her becoming the public face of the women’s marathon in the UK. Watson had run over 40 marathons in six years. She had...
2 Nov 2022 | Women's endurance running history, Women's marathon history |
In October I was invited onto the Runner’s World UK podcast to talk about “five women who changed running forever”. It’s a great topic for a sports historian, but also quite difficult to choose just five. As Runner’s World magazine is...
30 Sep 2022 | Women's ultrarunning history |
When Eleanor Adams (now Robinson) took part in the first Spartathlon, a 245km race from Athens to Sparta, in September 1983, she was relatively new to ultrarunning. She had run her first ultramarathon, a 12 hour track race, in July the previous year. She had competed...
31 Aug 2022 | Women's endurance running history |
When Marea Hartman died in 1994, she had been involved in the governance and administration of women’s athletics in England for nearly 60 years. One of her colleagues on the Women’s Amateur Athletic Association (WAAA), Vera Searle, regarded her as...
1 Aug 2022 | Women's marathon history |
On 16th January 2022, Keira D’Amato broke the long-standing USA national women’s marathon record when she won the Houston Marathon in 2:19:12. She beat the previous record set by Deena Kastor in 2006 in the London Marathon by 24 seconds. On the same day at...
2 Jul 2022 | Popular articles, Women's endurance running history |
2022 marks the Centenary of the Women’s Amateur Athletic Assocation (WAAA). The WAAA was formed in 1922 to meet a growing demand for organised competition for women in England. The 1920s were an exciting time for women’s athletics as international...