The Minnesota native was well aware of the work that Kuscsik, Berman and Switzer had done so women could run in the race. Valerie Rogosheske also ran that day, but did not make the photo shoot. But at any rate, the picture came out great.” “It made us all go, ‘(sigh), We’ve got a long way to go yet. “We were laughing because he was so silly,” Switzer said. He also wanted them to look “feminine and girly” and, later, to pose in a sprinter’s position.įrom the archives: Women’s running has transformed in 50 years “And we said, ‘We’re getting ready to start a marathon here.’ ”

“He wanted us to line up and do like a 'Can-Can' dance,” Switzer recalled. The playful look before the ‘72 Marathon was the result of a comedic back-and-forth with the photographer. The shot captures the playful smiles of Nina Kuscsik, Elaine Pedersen, Ginny Collins, Pat Barrett, Frances Morrison, Sara Mae Berman and Switzer.

Switzer, of Syracuse, New York, about to be thrown out of the normally all-male Boston Marathon when a husky companion, Thomas Miller, of Syracuse, threw a block that tossed a race official out of the running instead, Apin Hopkinton, Mass.(AP PHOTO/Courtesy Boston Herald)įive years later Switzer and six other women appeared in another historic photo.

Download kathrine switzer story