10/28/2025
Kathrine Switzer laced up her running shoes and broke barriers in 1967 at an all-male Boston Marathon.
She was not the first woman ever to complete the famous 26.2-mile race, but she became the first female-registered runner, using her Syracuse University journalism byline, K. V. Switzer.
She made headlines by running the race despite an attempt by its co-director to physically pull her out.
Switzer’s act of defiance was a monumental win for female runners, who five years later, in 1972, were invited officially to run the Boston Marathon, the crown jewel of long-distance road races.
Now an internationally recognized pioneer for female runners and women in athletics, she returns to SUNY Cortland for a speaking engagement on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Switzer previously spoke at Cortland in 2012.
Her talk, at 6 p.m. in Old Main Brown Auditorium, is free and open to the public.
Switzer’s experience propelled her to a career that generated many other opportunities for women in sports. Besides running competitively — she won the New York City Marathon in 1974 — Switzer found success in fields that included broadcasting, marketing and public speaking.
Runner’s World magazine named her its female runner of the decade for 1967 to 1977 and one of its four visionaries of the century. In 2011, Switzer was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
She has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs, including “Oprah,” “The Today Show” and “Good Morning America.”
Switzer co-founded and leads the nonprofit organization 261 Fearless, which aims to empower women through running and education. She won an Emmy Award in 1997 for her work on the Los Angeles Marathon. She continues to write for publications like Marathon & Beyond Magazine and is the author of three books including her award-winning 2007 memoir Marathon Woman.
Switzer also founded the Avon International Running Circuit, a worldwide series sponsored by the cosmetics giant that brought races for women to dozens of countries. The program is credited with attracting more than a million participants and boosting acceptance of women’s sports in places where it had previously lagged. The Avon series also paved the way for more women’s running events to be added to the Olympics, which included the women’s marathon in 1984.
Now 78, Switzer reran the Boston Marathon in 2017 at age 70 to mark the 50th anniversary of her famous first run.
Her talk at SUNY Cortland is sponsored by the university’s Sport Management Club.
For more information, contact Mark Dodds, professor of sport management.
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Kathrine Switzer at the 2011 Berlin Marathon Expo
Switzer runs the Chicago Marathon in 2017
Switzer, second from left, participates at the 2018 Berlin Run Base