Women’s Run Toward Equality at the New York City Marathon

Through the years, the New York City Marathon has featured dramatic and exciting moments for women runners and has often symbolized equality of opportunity. Today, on Women’s Equality Day, we look at some of the greatest New York City Marathon moments for women, from the first female entrants and finishers in the race’s earliest years to the historic record-breaking 2019 women’s finisher field. Celebrate with us!

The American women’s field at the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon will be the strongest in the event’s 50-year history—read more and check out our video! 

1970: Nina Kuscsik is the first and only woman to enter the first New York City Marathon. Fighting fever and nausea, she lines up at the start in Central Park and later drops out at about halfway. The first New York City Marathon has 127 entrants and 55 finishers.

1971: Beth Bonner, age 19, and Nina Kuscsik are the first women finishers of the New York City Marathon. Bonner runs 2:55:22 and Kuscsik runs 2:56:04, making them the first two women in history to run the marathon in under three hours.

1972: In protest over an Amateur Athletics Union (AAU) requirement that women start 10 minutes before the men, the six women entrants in the New York City Marathon sit down on the start line for 10 minutes, then start with the men. The AAU is sued for discrimination when they add 10 minutes to the women’s times, and “The six who sat” make their point and eventually win their case.

1975: U.S. First-place finisher Kim Merritt of Wisconsin, pictured below crossing the finish line and being crowned by Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton, becomes the U.S. national marathon champion. 

1976: In the first five-borough New York City Marathon, 41-year-old Miki Gorman, pictured below shatters the event record when she runs 2:39:11, the second-fastest women’s marathon time in history—and she comes back for a repeat victory in 1977.

1978: In her first marathon and first-ever run longer than 12 miles, Norway’s Grete Waitz sets a world record of 2:32:30.

1979–1988: Waitz, pictured below, accumulates a total of nine New York City Marathon victories—setting more world records—over the next 10 years.

1994: With her New York City Marathon victory, Tegla Loroupe of Kenya, pictured below, becomes the first African woman to win a major marathon; she repeats as champion in 1995.

2000: Jo-Ann O’Callaghan of New Zealand is the first official woman wheelchair division winner, finishing in 3:47:26.

2003: Margaret Okayo of Kenya, pictured below, sets a still-standing event record of 2:22:31.

2004: Edith Wolf Hunkeler wins the wheelchair division for the first of five times; she wins again in 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009.

2010: Tatyana McFadden, pictured below, wins the wheelchair division for the first of five times; she wins again in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

2014: Mary Keitany of Kenya wins her first of four TCS New York City Marathon titles; she repeats in 2015, 2016, and 2018.

2017: Shalane Flanagan, pictured at the top of this article, becomes the first American open woman champion of the New York City Marathon in 40 years.

2019: 22,746 women finish the TCS New York City Marathon, the most in history and the most ever in any marathon

The Road Ahead: 2021 and Beyond

The 2021 TCS New York City Marathon field will feature the strongest-ever field of American women and a phenomenal international field as well.

Women’s incredible achievements in the New York City Marathon and other races have happened despite decades of discrimination and other barriers. Women marathoners, along athletes of all genders in sports across the board, continue to fight for equal access and equitable pay and to overcome discrimination, such as that against pregnant, transgender, and non-binary athletes, and in other areas. Check out the links below to learn more and get involved with impactful nonprofit organizations pursuing equality for women athletes.

Women's Sports Foundation The WSF was founded in 1974 to advance the lives of women and girls through sports and physical activity, and has been dong groundbreaking work ever since. 

National Women's Law Center NWLC has been on the front lines of major legal and policy victories for women for 45 years. 

UN Women: The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women This organization was founded in 2011 to accelerate progress on meeting the needs of women and girls worldwide.