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‘Woman up’: Running industry opportunities exist on, off the road

W omen’s marathoning has come a long way in 50 years and can continue to make impressive gains both on and off the road.

In 1967, Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon, despite attempts by officials to run her off the course. At the time, many believed women should not run marathons, thinking it was unsafe and would have an impact on their fertility and femininity.

Switzer succeeded as a pioneer who created opportunities for women in running. In 2014, Running USA reported that 43 percent of marathon finishers were women and that a record 232,600 women finished a marathon.

In 1967, Kathrine Switzer was nearly forced off the course of the Boston Marathon. Forty-seven years later, 43 percent of marathon finishers were women, totaling 232,600.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
Running is not the only sport in which women have made huge strides. American female athletes hold impressive roles like at no other time in history, and 2015 was a pivotal year for women in sports.

Consider these accomplishments that may have been overlooked:

Lindsey Vonn, the American skier who recently claimed the all-time (male or female) record for wins in downhill events, leads the overall World Cup and, at age 31, shows no signs of slowing down. She is on track to break the all-time record of 86 wins by Swedish ski legend Ingemar Stenmark.

Deena Kastor, the 2004 Olympic bronze medalist in the women’s marathon, set the U.S. marathon record of 2 hours, 19 minutes and 36 seconds at the London Marathon in 2006. Nearly 10 years after setting the national record, Kastor, 42, broke the U.S. master’s record in 2015 at the Chicago Marathon with an impressive 2:27:47.

The next major event in women’s marathoning will be the U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials set for Saturday in Los Angeles. Of 244 competitors, only three women will earn a place on the Olympic team that goes to Rio de Janeiro in August.

Olympic veterans Shalane Flanagan (2:21:14, Berlin), Desiree Linden (2:22:38, Boston) and Kara Goucher (2:22:54, Boston), all of whom competed in London in 2012, will headline a talented field. This should be much more than a three-woman race, however; there are eight women with a career mark of under 2 hours, 30 minutes, including U.S. record-holder Kastor. For everybody in the race, it will be a time to “woman up,” as Goucher declared.

The strength and depth of the women’s field at the trials is proof that we are moving in the right direction. It is also proof that we need to continue to commit monetary support to American endurance athletes who will advance the sport as Switzer did in 1967. Women continue to break barriers as they unlock their potential, and we must empower them.

One way to do that is through aggressive financial support. Unlike the star athletes of major sports who earn millions of dollars, the stars of endurance sports top out with thousands of dollars for appearances and performances. Surveys by athletes’ advocates indicate that about half of American runners who are ranked among the top 10 nationally earn less than $15,000 annually as athletes.

This is where running organizations can step up to help bridge the gap and create stars in our sport. Our social responsibility is really about respecting the sport and putting money into it.

The NFL sponsors the Punt, Pass & Kick grassroots initiative for children ages 6 to 15 to learn the fundamentals of football. Teams in the NHL sponsor learn-to-play programs. Across major league sports, organizations invest in growth, promote their stars and create ambassadors for youth who dream of becoming like their idols.

A few marathons and races invest in American runners by funding and supporting dedicated training camps and teams. I believe we can create role models for our young girls who want to run if we increase our investment in American endurance athletes.

The road isn’t the only place where women are setting standards of achievement and raising the bar as leaders, nor is it the only place where we can empower future generations. The running industry represents an opportunity for young women who want to make a career in sports management. There is room at the top. There is a pathway available to make it to senior executive.

WITTENBERG
RUSSELL
Women guide and shape our industry as CEOs and race directors at many of the biggest and most prestigious organizations. Front and center this weekend will be Los Angeles Marathon CEO Tracey Russell, who is hosting the Olympic marathon trials race on Saturday, followed by the L.A. Marathon on Sunday. Virginia Brophy Achman has been in charge since 2000 at Twin Cities in Motion and the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis. Gina Pharis and Geneva Lamm have built the Little Rock Marathon from a small, local event of a couple thousand participants into a major regional race with more than 10,000 entries.

At the top of the deck is Mary Wittenberg, who, after many years growing New York Road Runners into the world’s premier running organization, left to launch Virgin Sport last year.

These leaders exhibit passion.

“I am the kind of person who just doesn’t turn it off,” Russell told Runner’s World in a story on women executives last year. Brophy Achman expanded her group’s efforts beyond the marathon with a seasonlong calendar of events and community fitness and running. “I think women are interested in our communities,” she said in the same story.

This all seems natural in a sport that has a strong female participant base. Women are taking to the road and bringing their friends along for the journey. Women represent 60 percent of the half-marathon participant base and are the reason the sport grew substantially in the past seven years.

Our organizations thrive because of growth in the industry. The endurance market is a relatively untapped market that represents opportunity for women to work in sports management. This will lead to other opportunities in the industry, as women prove they can manage multimillion-dollar portfolios.

I am excited about what the future will bring.

To all of the young women exploring a career path to the senior ranks and boardrooms of the sports world, I strongly urge them to “get into the race” and “woman up.” It’s time.

Patrice Matamoros is the CEO of Pittsburgh’s P3R, which promotes running and community health and fitness through large-scale events, races and education programs, including the Pittsburgh Marathon weekend.

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