3 Dec 2023 | Women's marathon history |
Stephen Lane’s book “Long Run to Glory” is timely. The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will mark the fortieth anniversary of the first women’s marathon at the Olympics. The race was held at the Los Angeles games on 5th August 1984, 88 years after the first men’s Olympic...
2 Nov 2022 | Popular articles, 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...
21 May 2021 | Women's endurance running history, Women's marathon history |
March is Women’s History Month in the UK, USA and Australia. This year, I decided to mark Women’s History Month by sharing a story from women’s running history on social media each day. This turned out to be a much more time-consuming task than I had...
9 Sep 2020 | Popular articles, Women's endurance running history, Women's marathon history |
Imagine a time when women did not run in road races. Imagine a time when women were told distance running would harm their health. Imagine a time when running in a marathon meant risking being jeered at or even assaulted. This time was in my lifetime. I was born in...
21 May 2016 | Popular articles, Women's marathon history |
On a sunny day in August 1980, 181 women from 26 countries lined up in Battersea Park in London to run a marathon. It was the first time the city’s streets had ever been closed for a race. It was the 3rd August. Two days before, the men’s marathon had...
