Editor's Pick

fred kaplan / sports illustrated / getty images
01 June, 2016

ON 19 APRIL 1966, Roberta “Bobbi” Gibb, aged 23, runs towards the finish line of the Boston Marathon, on the way to becoming the first woman to complete the 42.2-kilometre race.

Gibb trained for the contest for two years, doing some of her most intense preparation on a month-long road trip across the United States. With only her dog for company, and wearing the sturdiest footwear she could find—nurse’s shoes—she ran along the Mississippi River, through the Great Plains, and even up and over the Great Divide in the Rocky Mountains. In February of 1966, she contacted the Boston Athletic Association, or BAA, the body in charge of the marathon, requesting permission to register as a racer. The race director curtly refused to send her the application forms, saying women were physiologically unable to run such long distances.

Angry but unfazed, Gibb arrived at the start of the race wearing a black swimsuit, her brother’s shorts and a hooded sweatshirt that allowed her to cover her hair. She hid in some bushes near the starting line, and jumped into the fray after half of the other runners had begun. Some of them soon realised she was a woman, and—to her relief—were friendly and supportive. She removed her disguise, and was rewarded with wild cheering from supporters all along the race’s route. Gibb clocked in at 3 hours, 21 minutes and 40 seconds—ahead of two-thirds of the men.

Gibb’s achievement earned her celebrity—she made front-page news the next day, and was featured in Sports Illustrated later that year. She returned to run the Boston Marathon—still unofficially, though without subterfuge—in 1967 and 1968. One other woman completed the course in 1967, and a total of five competed the following year. In 1972, the BAA finally permitted women to register for the race.

In 1996, the BAA retroactively recognised Gibb as the first female winner of the Boston Marathon. This year, the race’s female champion, Atsede Baysa, presented her trophy to Gibb. She accepted the gift on the condition that, next year, she will travel to Baysa’s native Ethiopia to return it.