9 Sep 2020 | Women's endurance running 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...
9 Jul 2018 | Interviews with women runners over 50 |
It’s unusual to meet a runner who’s been running for over 40 years, and it’s particularly unusual for that runner to be a woman. The RunBritain rankings website lists 31,600 active runners aged 60 and over, but only 28% of them are women. There has been a significant...
8 Apr 2017 | Women's endurance running history |
In March I was fortunate to have the chance to meet Mara Yamauchi, the UK’s second-fastest marathon runner, when she came to Nottingham to talk to England Athletics Run Leaders about coaching and training. Mara Yamauchi was inspired to run by watching the Los...
21 May 2016 | Blog, Popular articles, Women's endurance running 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...
26 Sep 2015 | Blog, Women's endurance running history |
American women love to run marathons. In 2014 43% of marathon finishers in US races were women, the highest percentage of any country in the world. In the UK the figure is 34%. And American women love half marathons even more than marathons. They outnumber male...
