Running

Conversations with Sports Fans – Edith Zuschmann

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Edith Zuschmann
261 Fearless President and CEO Edith Zuschmann. (Photo by Markuss Traussnig)

As I was researching the Week 182 Fan Teaser I happened upon the subject’s – Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to officially complete the Boston Marathon in 1967 – website. One of the website’s tabs takes visitors to 261 Fearless, the global non-profit Switzer helped found in 2015. (Note: Kathrine’s Boston bib number in 1967 was 261. It’s since been officially retired.)

Sure, I’ll submit the contact form and see what happens, I figured. It’d be pretty cool to have the first official female Boston Marathon finisher as a Conversations’ guest, especially after I’d just been in Boston for the 130th running.

I heard back from the PR person that Kathrine was unavailable but her 261 Fearless co-founder and current President and Chief Executive Officer, Edith Zuschmann, might be able to speak with me.

And that’s how I wound up speaking with Edith, herself a former elite Austrian swimmer turned distance runner who devotes her time these days empowering women through 261 Fearless.

Sure, Edith and I talked about her early years as a sports fan (watching Alpine skiing on the television) in a home that was not sports oriented and how her grandmother introduced her to swimming.

More importantly, however, Edith and I spoke about the work 261 Fearless is doing in 14 countries over five continents. The goal behind these running clubs is to empower women to be the leaders and to, thus, provide a safe environment for fellow women to join and begin their fitness journey, free of judgment and at their own pace.

As Edith said, “Each one of us has the power to be an inspiration for our daughters or our nieces or the anonymous woman next door to us. … You believe in what you see.”

My Conversation with Edith Zuschmann from 261 Fearless.

Fan Teaser: Week 182 Solution

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History in the making! What’s happening?

On Monday, the 130th Boston Marathon will step off in Hopkinton, MA, and finish in downtown Boston a few hours later. Over 30,000 competitors from all over the world will participate in this year’s race, many of whom will be female.

Did you know the first female to officially run the Marathon occurred 59 years ago on April 19, 1967.

Kathrine Switzer from Syracuse registered as K.V. Switzer and was issued bib number 261. Her run was not without incident, as sometime during Mile 4, race manager Jock Semple came bounding off a passing media truck attempting to rip Switzer’s bib off and forcer her out of the race. One of Switzer’s running companions, Thomas Miller, body-blocked Semple out of the way and Switzer carried on, ultimately finishing the race in 4 hours, 20 minutes. She recounts her memories of this history-making moment in her memoir, Marathon Woman. At this link is an excerpt that details both the lead up and running of the 1967 Boston Marathon.

This sequence of photos from the 1967 Boston Marathon by Boston Traveller photographer Harry Trask, captures the moment Kathrine Switzer was about to be attacked by Marathon race manager, Jock Semple, before her friend Thomas Miller interceded. Switzer went on to complete the Boston Marathon and became the first woman to enter and run the race. (Photo courtesy of the Boston Herald)

Switzer was not, in fact, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. That bit of history belongs to Roberta “Bobbi” Gibb who joined the race shortly after the starting gun in 1966 as a wildcat and finished in an unofficial time of 3 hours, 21 minutes, and 40 seconds which would have been good for 126th place. She ran the race the same way again 1967 and 1968.

It was not until 1972 that women were officially designated as an entry category. Switzer has spent the years since her Marathon pushing for women’s rights in athletics and was a key figure in getting the Women’s Marathon included in the Olympics beginning in 1984. She ran Boston again in 2017 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her historic run and finished in 4:44.31. Following the race Bib No. 261 was retired.

Short videos featuring the words of Kathrine Switzer (left) and Bobbi Gibb recollecting their history making efforts at the Boston Marathon.

Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.