Briggs had run the Boston Marathon 15 times and spoke about this to Switzer on their runs. Instead, she was given the opportunity to train with the men’s team and the volunteer coach, Arnie Briggs. She asked to run on the men’s track team but was informed that it would be against National Collegiate Athletic Association rules. She had been running since school, but her university had no women’s cross-country team. Switzer was a journalism student at Syracuse University. Little did Switzer know, her actions and what would follow would unintentionally start a social movement for equality in sport. She finished the race with bloodied feet, badly shaken by her experience. Switzer’s boyfriend barged the official off the road, a moment captured by a photographer from The Boston Globe that ensured its place in history. He was trying to pull off her bib with her race number on it. The official ran up behind Switzer, shouting and clawing at her sweatshirt. A mile and a half into Switzer’s first Boston Marathon, she was attacked by a race official. The organisers saw her name on the entry list and presumed she was a man. Switzer slipped through the net by signing her name on the entry form for the Boston marathon by using her initials, KV Switzer. The only way women could take part was to join the race from the side-lines and run without a numbered bib. The rules did not explicitly prevent women from running, but it was tradition rigorously upheld by the organisers. Despite being told it would be impossible, at the age of 20-years-old, Switzer became the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon. She was mocked, ridiculed and even her own coach did not initially believe it was possible for a female to run the course.

Kathrine Switzer refused to share this sentiment.

In 1967, women were not allowed to run more than 1,500 metres in sanctioned races.

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