Catalogue of Chicks

Welcome to the Catalog of Chicks — a place where you can meet everyday women and read about their extraordinary acts of bravery and courage. We hope you are inspired by their stories — we certainly are!

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<<Previous Chick Next Chick>>Kathrine Switzer
New York, NY
Submitted by: One Brave ChickWe are honored to introduce you to this month’s Featured Brave Chick – Kathrine Switzer. If you are a brave chick who likes to break a sweat or appreciates the sight of another brave chick trying her best out there on the track, field, pool, treadmill, aerobics class, where ever – you will surely be excited to join us as we salute a trailblazer when it comes to women and sports.

Kathrine Switzer will always be best known as the woman who challenged the all-male tradition of the Boston Marathon and became the first woman to officially enter and run the event. Her entry created an uproar and worldwide notoriety when a race official tried to forcibly remove her from the competition.

Three decades later, the incident continues to capture the public imagination and is, in part, the reason Switzer has dedicated her multi-faceted career to creating opportunities and equal sport status for women.

Having been denied many athletic opportunities herself, Switzer's original goal was to establish opportunities in women's running. Her career has included creating programs in 27 countries for over 1 million women that led to the inclusion of the women's marathon as an official event in the Olympic Games, changing forever the face of sports, health and opportunities for women around the world.

The "Boston Incident" also inspired Kathrine to become a good athlete: She has run 35 marathons, won the 1974 New York City Marathon, and ran her personal best of 2:51.33 by finishing 2nd in the 1975 Boston Marathon. At the time, this was the 6th best women's marathon time in the world, and 3rd in the U.S.A

Kathrine Switzer is the recipient of many awards and recognitions, including, but by no means limited to, an Emmy for television commentary, becoming an inductee into the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame, being named Runner of the Decade (1966-77), and becoming an inductee into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame (July 1998).

Kathrine Switzer is a dynamic and effective speaker. She is a woman who has pioneered an obscure activity into global movement, and has parlayed her success as an iconoclastic athlete also into successful corporate sports marketing and public relations careers with Avon, AMF Incorporated, and Bristol Myers. Whether business, sports or health, Switzer is sought after to speak to corporate, university, association and convention groups because she is a fit, authentic success herself, and conveys high energy to all of her auduiences.

What inspires her the most, however, is her continuous involvement in the creation and publicity of events that give women and girls an opportunity in fitness and health, and in the education of the public to the enormous value of the fitness experience for everyone. That, and of course, her husband and her daily six mile run!

If you would like to learn more about Kathrine and her amazing experiences or attend one of her speaking engagements, please visit her website at www.kathrineswitzer.com

Thank you, Kathrine, for the impact that you have had on all of our lives. We are forever indebted to you and your incredible example of bravery and courage. <<Previous Chick Next Chick>>