30 Oct 2026 | Women's marathon history |
British women’s marathon record – context The British women’s marathon record progression begins with Violet Piercy’s time of 4:25 in an unofficial run in 1936. It ends with Paula Radcliffe’s 2:15:25 in 2003. For most of the twentieth...
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 | 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...
