Title IX, Women’s Running, and the Road Ahead
Mini Marathon Starting Line, 1970s
On June 23, 1972, Title IX was signed into U.S. law, guaranteeing women the right to participate in school sports and creating new opportunities for generations of female athletes. That historic moment took place three weeks after 72 women gathered in Central Park for the Crazylegs Mini Marathon, the world’s first women-only road race.
With those two events, women’s sports—and especially women’s running—took off. Today, women make up 60 percent of all finishers in road races. The number of girls playing high school sports grew from fewer than 300,000 in 1974 to more than 3.1 million in 2012, and continues to grow.
Other milestone events happened in 1972. In April, women competed officially in the Boston Marathon for the first time, following years of lobbying race officials. And in October, the six women runners in the New York City Marathon sat down at the start of their race to protest a separate women’s start, which they felt marginalized their participation. They made their point—from then on male and female road racers started together. The New York Times recently looked back on the moment—which they’d reported on at the time—and it’s also covered in an ESPN 30 for 30 podcast, “Six Who Sat.”
The Mini, named for the miniskirt, was organized by NYRR president Fred Lebow and women’s running pioneers Kathrine Switzer and Nina Kuscsik. A California teenager named Jackie Dixon won the first year, posting a time of 37:02 for six miles. By 1979, the race had over 4,000 finishers. In the 1980 race, Grete Waitz of Norway broke the world record, winning in 31:00. Since then it’s had a total of 200,000+ finishers and remains a model for women’s road races around the world. Since 2016, race day has included a 1.2-mile race for girls ages 8-18, and the 2018 Mini featured the world’s only all-women’s professional wheelchair race.
Title IX has been powerful for opening doors for girls and women in sports, yet as the Women’s Sports Foundation notes, “it has often left girls of color behind.” On the 48th anniversary of Title IX, WSF and some of the most accomplished women in sport will join together for “Girls of Color: An Unfulfilled Promise,” a discussion of Title IX’s impact on girls of color. Learn more and register here.
Seeking to help fulfill the promise of Title IX, NYRR’s Run for the Future program provides an introduction to running for a diverse group of New York City 11th-grade girls. In an inclusive environment, this free seven-week program for young women who have never participated in organized sports teaches running technique, nutrition, and goal setting. The program’s graduates receive a $2,000 college scholarship.
Much work remains to allow women and girls across the country the equal access promised by Title IX, so that women runners and all athletes everywhere can fully embrace their power to move.
Though this year’s Mini was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, women runners continue to feel a debt of gratitude. “It means the world to me,” said Robin Venick, who’s run 27 Minis. “I will always run it.”