65 | Lynn Blackstone
Starting Line 1928
“I was just in the right place at the right time” is how Lynn Blackstone likes to color her participation in one of the pivotal events in the history of women’s running—"The Six Who Sat" protest at the start of the third New York City Marathon in 1972. While this may seem a vast understatement, what cannot go unnoticed is her decades-long love of running. The sport threaded its way through her next decade, as she gave birth to two sons and continued to run through both pregnancies. Today, at age 85, Lynn still runs and is an active member of the Central Park Track Club,...
info_outline
64 | Jeannie Rice
Starting Line 1928
For those who follow masters running, Jeannie Rice’s name often invokes awe and admiration. At age 77, Rice has more than 40 Masters titles in the U.S. At age 70, she set her first age group world record at the 2018 Chicago Marathon with a time of 3:27:50, which she lowered a year later, at the 2019 Berlin Marathon, with a time of 3:24:48. She also holds age-group world records in the 1500 meters, 5000 meters, and 10,000 meters on the track. In this episode of Starting Line 1928, we talked about her own running routine, her role models, and her goals to run a 3:30 marathon after turning 78....
info_outline
63 | Jessica Dragičević Cassleman
Starting Line 1928
Jessica Dragičević Cassleman grew up in Chile with British and Yugoslav roots. She found her way into elite athletics through community sports clubs, eventually competing and coaching at a high level. A political upheaval in Chile and a serendipitous phone call brought her to the United States and the University of Illinois, where she became a pioneering women’s track and field coach in the early years after Title IX. She built competitive programs at Illinois and Washington State University, fighting for equity in resources and respect for women athletes, and developing a coaching...
info_outline
62 | Helen Klein
Starting Line 1928
Ultra-running legend Helen Klein turned 100 on November 27, 2022. A force of nature, she believes anything is possible if it is within your grasp. Few people have grasped as many accolades as she has. Over the course of her remarkable career, Klein amassed 75 national and world records, completed 90 marathons and 143 ultramarathons; and at age 66, was one of the first athletes to complete the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning which consists of four of the most demanding 100-mile trail races in the United States. At 72, she completed a 145-mile race in the Sahara Desert in Morocco. Just weeks...
info_outline
61 | Tish Hamilton
Starting Line 1928
If Tish Hamilton is being honest, she doesn’t consider herself a pioneer in women’s running. She looks at titans of the sport like and activists like Alison Mariella Desir—“They’re legit,” Hamilton says. But Hamilton’s work in the sport—as the first female executive editor of Runner’s World magazine—is nothing to sneeze at. Hamilton calls the marriage of her two passions—running and journalism—a privilege. She helped usher in the second running boom, one driven largely by women, one step behind the helm of the go-to magazine for runners. The mission was to broaden the...
info_outline
60 | Anne Audain
Starting Line 1928
Anne Audain is a three-time Olympian and former professional runner for New Zealand. She had success as a very young athlete, qualifying for the 1972 Munich Olympics at age 16, though she wasn't able to compete until the 1976 Montreal Olympics, when she was 20. However, the road to discovering her talent wasn't without its challenges. Anne, who was adopted as a baby, was born with a bone deformity in both feet, which she wasn't able to correct with surgery until she was 13 years old. After more than a year of rehab and recovery, Anne hit the ground running, literally. Despite having competed...
info_outline
59 | Eileen Waters Connolly
Starting Line 1928
Eileen Waters Connolly was a trailblazer in American long-distance running, part of the first generation of women to compete in the sport. In 1972, she made history by setting a world record in a 50-mile race on a track in Santa Monica, finishing in 7:05:31. Even more impressive, she ran negative splits—completing the second half 23 minutes faster than the first. A year later, she returned and broke her own record, cutting 10 minutes off her time. She died in 2016 at 71 from adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC), a rare form of cancer. As she aged, she never lost...
info_outline
58 | Deena Kastor
Starting Line 1928
When you think about excellence in the marathon, the name Deena Kastor inevitably jumps to mind. After all, the 52-year-old held the American record in the distance for a whopping 19 years, setting it first in London in 2003, then bettering her own mark just three years later when she became the first American woman to run under 2:20. In fact, Kastor—a three-time Olympian, World Marathon Majors champ, World Cross Country medalist, and holder of national records from the 5K up to the 26.2—was drawn to distance from the very first time she hit the track.
info_outline
57 | Arlene Pieper Stine
Starting Line 1928
Long before Roberta Gibb and Sara Mae Berman unofficially ran the Boston Marathon (1966 and 1969 respectively), Arlene Pieper Stine became the first woman to officially finish a sanctioned marathon in 1959, when she ran the Pikes Peak Marathon—ascent and descent—in 9:50:20 when she was 29. She was accompanied by twelve men and a horse. Pieper Stine ran in the men's category and was not given a special category or fanfare for her historic finish. She never ran another marathon and her pioneering accomplishment fell into obscurity until 2009.
info_outline
56 | Yolanda Holder
Starting Line 1928
Upon turning 50 years old, Yolanda Holder decided to do something different for her birthday. While others in her circle of family and friends opted for elaborate parties, expensive experiences or trips, or even purchasing long-desired goods, Yolanda, on the other hand, set out to walk 50 marathons in 50 weeks. She didn't just meet that goal—she crushed it, completing 66 marathons in 52 weeks. And she never stopped. Now 67, Holder has become one of the most accomplished ultra-endurance athletes in the world. She has set Guinness World Records, all while breaking barriers as a race walker in...
info_outlineIn the mid-1970s, Henley Gabeau didn’t set out to become an accomplished distance runner. Instead, her athletic journey started as a simple desire to keep up with her 12-year-old daughter while training on the track. Henley quickly noticed there weren’t many spaces dedicated to women, so she and a group of like-minded athletes formed RunHERS, one of the first women’s running clubs in the United States. She went on to become the first female president of the Road Runners Club of America and then the organization's first-ever executive director; she also played a role in advocating for adding the women's marathon to the Olympics. Henley's contributions to the world of distance running go beyond her athletic achievements; her work as an advocate, race director, mother and leader helped shape women’s running into what it is today. Henley passed away in 2018—this interview was conducted by Olympian Amy Begley in 2013.