Iconic athlete, sports and social advocate, author, and Emmy award-winning television commentator, Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to officially enter and run the Boston Marathon. She has been honored widely for her achievements, including being inducted into the USA National Women’s Hall of Fame, for creating positive social change.
The ramifications of her work are both joyful and profound, changing forever the face of sports, health and opportunities for women around the world. Kathrine Switzer is relentless in her efforts to empower millions of women beyond the finish line, now through the recently created non-profit, “261 Fearless, Inc.”
She ran the Boston Marathon again in 2017, 50 years after she first challenged the rules and ran the prestigious event. In doing so, Kathrine broke yet another barrier in a lifetime of breaking barriers, and simultaneously celebrated 50 years of women’s athletics and social achievement.
The world was pleasantly startled to learn that a 70-year old woman ran a marathon 50 years after she ran her first one. She was the first woman ever to do that, and she did it convincingly: only 20 minutes slower than her first run, at age 20. In so doing, Kathrine Switzer broke yet another barrier in a lifetime of breaking barriers, and simultaneously celebrated 50 years of women’s athletic AND social achievements.
While Switzer regards these accomplishments as a game-changers for women, she has yet larger ambitions of taking the transformational power of running to more women all over the world, especially those who do not have easy access to opportunities. Through “261 Fearless” (her 501c3 Foundation) she aims to empower women through a network of communication, clubs, training, events and merchandising. (“261” was the number on the bib which the angry official tried to tear off of her in the 1967 Marathon. Over the years, the number has come to mean “fearless in the face of adversity” as women relate to its powerful story.)
Switzer is an Emmy award-winning TV commentator and has covered the Olympic Games, World and National Championships as well as hundreds of other events including the New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and every televised edition of the Boston Marathon (36 consecutive years!). She is a journalist and author of three books, including her memoir, Marathon Woman.
Switzer is a dynamic public speaker who inspires her audience because she is an authentic and accessible example herself. She is a visionary who has changed the world, continues to do so to this day and shows her audience how they, too, can make a positive and lasting impact on the world, or simply in their own lives.
Whether business, sports or health, Switzer is sought after to speak to corporate, university, association and convention groups because she is an inspiring, fit, authentic success herself.
