Kathrine Switzer
Kathrine Switzer will always be best known as the woman who challenged the all-male tradition of the Boston Marathon and became the first woman to officially enter and run the event in 1967. Her entry created an uproar and worldwide notoriety when a race official tried to forcibly remove her from the competition. Three decades later, the incident continues to capture the public imagination and is, in part, the reason Kathrine has dedicated her multi-faceted career to creating opportunities on all fronts for women.
Kathrine has run 35 marathons, won the 1974 New York City Marathon and in 1975 was ranked 6th in the world and 3rd in the USA in women’s marathon. After a successful athletic career, she turned her attention to the creation of women’s opportunities in sport, a sports marketing career, communication, and motivating others in both fitness and business. Having been denied many athletic opportunities herself, Kathrine’s original goal of establishing opportunities in women’s running first emerged in a big way when she created the Avon International Running Circuit for cosmetics giant Avon Products, Inc. over 20 years ago. This worldwide series of women’s events and Kathrine’s tireless lobbying were instrumental in making the women’s marathon an official event in the Olympic Games. The first women’s Olympic marathon was 1984.
As the then-Director of Sports and Public Relations, Kathrine also was responsible for Avon’s sponsorship of all the company’s sports sponsorships when they reached a new height in the 1980s with over $9 million annual budget. These programs were mostly discontinued in 1986 and Kathrine left Avon to pursue other business options through her own company. A decade later, in 1997, in one of the more amazing turn-arounds in sports sponsorship, Avon decided to return to its sponsorship of women’s running. With Kathrine again at the helm as Program Director, the company rebuilt the program under the banner of Avon Running-Global Women’s Circuit. The program was launched in 1997 in 15 countries with a starting budget of $5 million. However, in 2002, like many companies, Avon downsized its operations and sponsorships, including Avon Running. Kathrine continues to advise the remaining nine countries.
In 2002, RYKA, the women’s performance athletic footwear company, launched Take Fitness to Heart, its own series of women’s running and walking events, and named Kathrine as Director of Women’s Health and Fitness, where she served as a spokesperson and advisor for the company through 2003.
2004 saw the inauguration of the MORE Marathon, a women’s only marathon event for women over 40, sponsored by MORE Magazine. Kathrine, along with legendary marathoner Grete Waitz, served as a spokesperson for the groundbreaking event.
As a communicator, Kathrine works as a TV commentator, writer and public speaker. She has worked for all major networks and covered the Olympic, Commonwealth and Goodwill Games; World and National championships; Olympic Trials; 27 Boston, 19 Pittsburgh, 15 New York City, and 13 Los Angeles Marathons, as well as hundreds of local road races. In 1997 she won an Emmy Award for her commentary for Los Angeles.
As a writer, Kathrine is also widely recognised as an innovator and leader in women’s fitness, health and longevity as well as running. For many years, she has motivated hundreds of thousands of women around the world to the starting line of fitness, using running or walking as a cost-effective and time efficient means for women to obtain heath, optimum weight and self-esteem. Her first book, Running and Walking For Women over 40 ..the Road to Sanity and Vanity is a best seller in the United States and New Zealand and is published also in national versions in Germany, Hungary and Australia. She has recently released her third book ‘Marathon Woman – Running the Race to Revolutionize Women’s Sports’. As well as writing books, she has also contributed to newspapers and publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Parade, Women’s Today, Runners World and Running Times.
Kathrine is also in demand as a personality, with compelling and inspirational stories to tell. She has been featured in publications around the world and on hundreds of radio and TV shows, including Oprah, Today and Good Morning America, and is often sought out for a visionary opinion on the future of women’s sports or controversial issues.
Kathrine is a dynamic and effective speaker. She is a woman who has pioneered an obscure activity into global movement, and has parlayed her success as an iconoclastic athlete also into successful corporate sports marketing and public relations careers with Avon, AMF Incorporated, and Bristol Myers. Whether business, sports or health, Kathrine is sought after to speak to corporate, university, association and convention groups because she is a fit, authentic success herself, and conveys high energy.
Kathrine has also received numerous citations and awards for her efforts in advancing sports opportunities for women, including a New York State Regents Medal of Excellence and the Billie Jean King Award from the Women’s Sports Foundation for her contribution to sports. She was named “Runner of the Decade” and one of four “Visionaries of the Century” by Runner’s World magazine, and an Honor Fellow from the National Association of Girls and Women in Sports. In 1998 she was one of the five inaugural inductees into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame, and in 2000, the Road Runners Club of America honoured her with the Fred Lebow Award for contribution to women’s running. In 2003, she was awarded the prestigious Abebe Bikila Award by the New York Road Runners for her worldwide contributions to running and was inducted into the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame. She is also in the Halls of Fame at Syracuse University, Lynchburg College, and the Road Runners Club of America.
Kathrine received both her BA (dual degree in journalism and English) and her MA (in Public Relations) from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications. She is married to Dr. Roger Robinson, professor, author and noted age-group runner. The couple divides their time living in New York City and Wellington, New Zealand. Kathrine continues to run six miles a day.
Kathrine’s Topics:· Business: Kathrine’s pioneering work in women’s sports marketing has served as a design model for many in business and education. She is in demand as a leader and speaker in the field, especially showing how to make adversity work as a business-generating opportunity by creating innovative programs. Her speeches and workshops can also be tailored specifically to address the areas of Event Management, Sports Marketing, Public Relations, Media Events and Destination Tourism.
· ”Becoming the Hero in Your Own Life": a get-real health and fitness experience, Kathrine motivates audiences to make fitness a part of their time-constrained lives, telling why and showing how to take charge of their own health and well-being. (Kathrine is also in demand to lead interactive events and fitness clinics for men and women of all ages, sizes and previous experience. She receives a constant stream of thank you letters from people whose lives she’s changed.)
· Sports: Kathrine is a pivotal figure in women’s sports history, as well as the women’s Olympic movement and the global history of running. She captivates audiences with her often rollicking and always moving talks on the history of women in sports and in particular the tremendous social and cultural change that has occurred through the women’s sports movement. She is a visionary and offers up her thought-provoking glimpses of the future for all audiences.
· Forestalling the Aging Process: We’re living longer, and Kathrine shows us how to live better. She deals with the realities of aging, dispels the myths and fears, and shows us how to fight back effectively, with an emphasis on prevention of the major killers of today: heart disease, diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis.Kathrine Switzer will always be best known as the woman who challenged the all-male tradition of the Boston Marathon and became the first woman to officially enter and run the event in 1967. Her entry created an uproar and worldwide notoriety when a race official tried to forcibly remove her from the competition. Three decades later, the incident continues to capture the public imagination and is, in part, the reason Kathrine has dedicated her multi-faceted career to creating opportunities on all fronts for women.
Kathrine has run 35 marathons, won the 1974 New York City Marathon and in 1975 was ranked 6th in the world and 3rd in the USA in women’s marathon. After a successful athletic career, she turned her attention to the creation of women’s opportunities in sport, a sports marketing career, communication, and motivating others in both fitness and business. Having been denied many athletic opportunities herself, Kathrine’s original goal of establishing opportunities in women’s running first emerged in a big way when she created the Avon International Running Circuit for cosmetics giant Avon Products, Inc. over 20 years ago. This worldwide series of women’s events and Kathrine’s tireless lobbying were instrumental in making the women’s marathon an official event in the Olympic Games. The first women’s Olympic marathon was 1984.
As the then-Director of Sports and Public Relations, Kathrine also was responsible for Avon’s sponsorship of all the company’s sports sponsorships when they reached a new height in the 1980s with over $9 million annual budget. These programs were mostly discontinued in 1986 and Kathrine left Avon to pursue other business options through her own company. A decade later, in 1997, in one of the more amazing turn-arounds in sports sponsorship, Avon decided to return to its sponsorship of women’s running. With Kathrine again at the helm as Program Director, the company rebuilt the program under the banner of Avon Running-Global Women’s Circuit. The program was launched in 1997 in 15 countries with a starting budget of $5 million. However, in 2002, like many companies, Avon downsized its operations and sponsorships, including Avon Running. Kathrine continues to advise the remaining nine countries.
In 2002, RYKA, the women’s performance athletic footwear company, launched Take Fitness to Heart, its own series of women’s running and walking events, and named Kathrine as Director of Women’s Health and Fitness, where she served as a spokesperson and advisor for the company through 2003.
2004 saw the inauguration of the MORE Marathon, a women’s only marathon event for women over 40, sponsored by MORE Magazine. Kathrine, along with legendary marathoner Grete Waitz, served as a spokesperson for the groundbreaking event.
As a communicator, Kathrine works as a TV commentator, writer and public speaker. She has worked for all major networks and covered the Olympic, Commonwealth and Goodwill Games; World and National championships; Olympic Trials; 27 Boston, 19 Pittsburgh, 15 New York City, and 13 Los Angeles Marathons, as well as hundreds of local road races. In 1997 she won an Emmy Award for her commentary for Los Angeles.
As a writer, Kathrine is also widely recognised as an innovator and leader in women’s fitness, health and longevity as well as running. For many years, she has motivated hundreds of thousands of women around the world to the starting line of fitness, using running or walking as a cost-effective and time efficient means for women to obtain heath, optimum weight and self-esteem. Her first book, Running and Walking For Women over 40 ..the Road to Sanity and Vanity is a best seller in the United States and New Zealand and is published also in national versions in Germany, Hungary and Australia. She has recently released her third book ‘Marathon Woman – Running the Race to Revolutionize Women’s Sports’. As well as writing books, she has also contributed to newspapers and publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Parade, Women’s Today, Runners World and Running Times.
Kathrine is also in demand as a personality, with compelling and inspirational stories to tell. She has been featured in publications around the world and on hundreds of radio and TV shows, including Oprah, Today and Good Morning America, and is often sought out for a visionary opinion on the future of women’s sports or controversial issues.
Kathrine is a dynamic and effective speaker. She is a woman who has pioneered an obscure activity into global movement, and has parlayed her success as an iconoclastic athlete also into successful corporate sports marketing and public relations careers with Avon, AMF Incorporated, and Bristol Myers. Whether business, sports or health, Kathrine is sought after to speak to corporate, university, association and convention groups because she is a fit, authentic success herself, and conveys high energy.
Kathrine has also received numerous citations and awards for her efforts in advancing sports opportunities for women, including a New York State Regents Medal of Excellence and the Billie Jean King Award from the Women’s Sports Foundation for her contribution to sports. She was named “Runner of the Decade” and one of four “Visionaries of the Century” by Runner’s World magazine, and an Honor Fellow from the National Association of Girls and Women in Sports. In 1998 she was one of the five inaugural inductees into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame, and in 2000, the Road Runners Club of America honoured her with the Fred Lebow Award for contribution to women’s running. In 2003, she was awarded the prestigious Abebe Bikila Award by the New York Road Runners for her worldwide contributions to running and was inducted into the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame. She is also in the Halls of Fame at Syracuse University, Lynchburg College, and the Road Runners Club of America.
Kathrine received both her BA (dual degree in journalism and English) and her MA (in Public Relations) from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications. She is married to Dr. Roger Robinson, professor, author and noted age-group runner. The couple divides their time living in New York City and Wellington, New Zealand. Kathrine continues to run six miles a day.
Kathrine’s Topics:· Business: Kathrine’s pioneering work in women’s sports marketing has served as a design model for many in business and education. She is in demand as a leader and speaker in the field, especially showing how to make adversity work as a business-generating opportunity by creating innovative programs. Her speeches and workshops can also be tailored specifically to address the areas of Event Management, Sports Marketing, Public Relations, Media Events and Destination Tourism.
· ”Becoming the Hero in Your Own Life": a get-real health and fitness experience, Kathrine motivates audiences to make fitness a part of their time-constrained lives, telling why and showing how to take charge of their own health and well-being. (Kathrine is also in demand to lead interactive events and fitness clinics for men and women of all ages, sizes and previous experience. She receives a constant stream of thank you letters from people whose lives she’s changed.)
· Sports: Kathrine is a pivotal figure in women’s sports history, as well as the women’s Olympic movement and the global history of running. She captivates audiences with her often rollicking and always moving talks on the history of women in sports and in particular the tremendous social and cultural change that has occurred through the women’s sports movement. She is a visionary and offers up her thought-provoking glimpses of the future for all audiences.
· Forestalling the Aging Process: We’re living longer, and Kathrine shows us how to live better. She deals with the realities of aging, dispels the myths and fears, and shows us how to fight back effectively, with an emphasis on prevention of the major killers of today: heart disease, diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis.