2 Jun 2022 | General running history |
The marathon boom really got going in the early 1980s in the UK. The 1980s were a boom time for running magazines too, fed by the surge in popular interest in road running. New titles sprang up that catered for a new type of runner, the non-elite distance runner or...
11 Apr 2022 | Women's marathon history |
The 1970s were an important decade in the history of women’s marathon running in the UK and internationally. For most of the twentieth century, women were prohibited from running long distance races and it was only in the 1970s that countries began to lift the...
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...
16 Aug 2020 | General running history |
Road races in the 1950s in the UK were very different from today’s races. Most races were over 10 miles and distances varied. The only standard distances were 20 miles and the marathon. Petrol rationing ended in 1950 but the number of vehicles on the road was...
21 May 2016 | Popular articles, Women's endurance running history, Women's marathon history |
On a sunny day in August 1980 200 women from 27 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 taken...
