2 days ago
Nina Kuscsik, the first official female winner of the Boston Marathon, has died at the age of 86
Roberta Gibb, who ran Boston in 1966, was ignored by BAA officials. But when Kathrine Switzer obtained a bib the following year by using her initials on the entry form, gatekeeper Jock Semple made headlines by trying to rip off her number in mid-race.
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Ms. Kuscsik, who made her marathon debut in Boston in 1969, became a runner by accident. Born Nina Louise Marmorino in Brooklyn, she was a versatile athlete, winning New York state championships in cycling, speedskating, and roller skating in the same year.
But when her bicycle tire blew out in 1967, she decided to use her feet to stay in shape. 'I couldn't wait the two weeks it took to get [the tire],' Ms. Kuscsik said. 'For running all you need is a pair of shoes.'
But the sight of a woman running laps around her Long Island block attracted notice. 'Every time it rained while I was training the police would stop me because they thought I was in trouble, that I was running away from something,' she said.
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Ms. Kuscsik ran Boston unofficially three times. 'I knew that women weren't official but that didn't bother me at all,' she said. Along the way she developed an amicable rivalry with Sara Mae Berman, who won the final three unofficial races.
'Nina and I were not enemies, we were friends,' Ms. Berman recalled recently. 'When we ran, yes, we were competing, but each of us was pushing the other to do our best run for the day.'
In 1970, Ms. Kuscsik, the mother of three, was the only female among 127 entrants in the inaugural New York City Marathon.
The following year, after she made a proposal at the AAU conference to allow women to compete formally, the organization agreed to allow 'certain women' to race.
Ms. Kuscsik decided that the 1972 Boston race would be a suitable site for a breakthrough. 'Boston was the place,' she said. 'It was the first race I had ever run. I didn't know there were any others.'
The women's status as official competitors came with restrictions. They had to meet the men's qualifying standard and were required to have a separate start in Hopkinton. 'We drew a line on the sidewalk,' Ms. Kuscsik said, 'and everyone went off whenever they wanted to.'
After checking the best times of her seven rivals, she reckoned that she had a good chance to win. But before the midway point of the race Ms. Kuscsik, who was wearing a Dacron-and-cotton, buttoned blouse and Danskin shorts, experienced gastrointestinal misery that soon became visible.
'What a weird experience that was,' she said. 'People were clapping as I went by them and then they stopped clapping because there was no other woman around. But I thought they'd stopped clapping because of what they saw.'
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Her winning time of 3 hours, 10 minutes, 26 seconds she deemed as 'pretty lousy' despite her outclocking more than 600 men. But Ms. Kuscsik's victory margin of 10:09 still stands as a record. 'A very gutsy effort,' said Berman. 'All of us were proud of her.'
The photo of men's winner Olavi Suomalainen kissing Ms. Kuscsik's cheek was published around the world. 'I was amazed at the amount of coverage,' she said. 'I didn't realize I was a part of a historic movement.'
That autumn, Ms. Kuscsik continued her campaign for equal treatment at the New York event where she was one of 'Six Who Sat' at the starting line with signs to protest the AAU's 'archaic' requirement that the women start 10 minutes before or after the men. The rule was dropped later that year.
Ms. Kuscsik, who won that race, went on to set a world record of 6:35:53 for 50 miles in Central Park and won the Empire State Building Run-Up three straight times.
Ms. Kuscsik, who later chaired USA Track & Field's women's long-distance running committee, cofounded what became the New York Mini 10K, the first female-only road race. She also advocated for the women's marathon to be added to the Olympic program, which it was in 1984.
Had the event existed in 1972, Ms. Kuscsik likely would have made the US team for Munich. And her Boston triumph would have earned her $150,000, plus $50,000 for her course record. 'I'm happy that I was where I was when I was,' she said. 'It was a different world then.'
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Ms. Kuscsik, who was divorced, became a patient representative at Mount Sinai Medical Center after working as a nurse. She is survived by daughter Christina and sons Stephen and Timothy.
John Powers can be reached at
