The Boston Marathon: Women Are Closing The Gap

THE BOSTON MARATHON: Women got a late start to the Boston Marathon, but they've been making up time ever since - literally. While the men have had two course records in two years - shaving several minutes off the previous record times, women have overall done a much faster job of improving speed and race performance. If the trend continues, women will catch up to the men by about 2035. WOMEN ARE CLOSING THE GAP For over 70 years, men ran the Boston Marathon. Then in 1966, Roberta Gibb ran and finished as a In 1967 Katherine Switzer ran with a number, having registered as "K.V. Switzer". Finally in 1972, women were officially welcome to run Boston. "bandit" runner. 261 Fastest Women's Time Margaret Okayo, Kenya 2:20:43 Fastest Men's Time Geoffrey Mutai, Kenya 2:03:02 1966 1967 1972 2002 2011 1897 3:30 The gap between men's and women's finishing time is shrinkng by 5 seconds per year. 3:20 3:10 Over 116 years, men have shaved 27 seconds per year off their time - a steady decrease over time, leading to 52:08 total savings. Smalest gap in a single year: 11 minutes 3:00 Women have shaved 1:09:17 in just 46 years - 1:30 per year. 2002 2:50 2:40 2:30 Women 2:20 2:10 2:00 Men 1897 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Despite It Being "Too Strenuous For Women" They Find a Way to Finish the Race Female participation: 11,463 2011 Long distance running was long denied to women. One reason was that it was felt 100% Participation. M: 100% M: 90% M: 92% to be "too strenuous" for women. One might expect finish rates to reflect this - M 87% M: 81% M: 77% that more women would quit the race the race than men. While this M: 64% M: 61% M 57% was somewhat true in the W. 43% early years, the data shows that finish rates are only w: 39% W: 36% DNF: 32% slightly higher for men - and that gap is narrowing DNF: 29% W. 23% W. 19% DNF: 21% W. 13% every year. DNF: 15% W:2% DNF: 54% W B% DNF: 48% DNF: 35% DNF: 11% DNF: 11% DNF: 14% DNF: 13% DNF: 16% DNF: 10% DNF: 12% DNF: 18 DNF: 15% 26.2 BeehiveMedia Most of this data is for the elite runners - the top of the pack. It is very possible that the AVERAGE performance of men and women is either more skewed or more equal than that provided here. We didn't have access to that data so couldn't compare. FOUNDATION