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The First Woman To Enter The Boston Marathon
Kathrine Switzer of Syracuse found herself about to be thrown out of the normally all-male Boston Marathon when a husky companion, Thomas Miller of Syracuse, threw a block that tossed a race official out of the running instead.
....
That's Switzer, of Syracuse, being pushed off the Boston Marathon course by Jock Semple, one of the race organizers. The year was 1967 and as Switzer tells it, Semple jumped off the media truck and began yelling at her.
"Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers," she says he told her.
....
Switzer says her boyfriend at the time threw a body block to stop Semple. After Semple was off the course and the media truck had moved on, Switzer said it went quiet, a light snow falling.
She broke the silence saying, "I'm going to finish this race on my hands and knees if I have to, because nobody believes that I can do this."
Switzer finished in 4 hours and 20 minutes.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/04/02/149876890/photo-the-first-woman-to-enter-the-boston-marathon