A pioneering project – Dr David Martin recalls in Distance Running how an extraordinary race staged in Atlanta 30 years ago eventually won Olympic status for marathon runners – 25 years „AVON Frauenlauf“ in Berlin

On March 19th 30 years ago – it was Palm Sunday 1978 – in Atlanta Georgia, an extraordinary marathon was staged which many believed raised international awareness of the desire among women for long-distance running events as part of the Olympic Games competition programme.

It was the Avon International Women's Marathon – funded by the well-known manufacturer of health and beauty products for women – the first in a series of seven marathons held annually around the world – that provided a global stage for women to demonstrate their talent at distance running.

In 1981 the International Olympic Committee in fact announced that a women's marathon would be part of the 1984 Los Angeles Games programme. There is little doubt that the first four Avon marathons – in such diverse locales as Atlanta, Waldniel, London, and Ottawa – with runners assembled from as many as 27 countries on five continents – provided powerful evidence for the appropriateness of such a decision.

Precedent had been set for such an international women’s competition, but on a much smaller scale. Dr. Ernst van Aaken from Waldniel, West Germany, a coach and physician who lost both legs in a running accident, was a great proponent of the notion that women were better suited physiologically for long distance competition than sprinting. He lobbied hard for the inclusion of the 1,500 m women’s event in the 1972 Munich Olympics, and then, during the late 1970s, organized three international women’s marathon championships in his home town of Waldniel.

A national championship existed already in Germany, and as well, in the USA. The Avon Corporation, being the world’s leading manufacturer and distributor of cosmetics, fragrances, and fashion jewelry, was interested in promoting fitness among women as an integral part of the notion that health and beauty go hand in hand.

Why not organize a series of road races at a variety of distances, in all the countries that Avon does business, and create a running circuit, where winners of shorter-distance races would be eligible for an expenses-paid trip to the annual extravaganza event – the international marathon? Katherine Switzer was hired to develop the concept further. Known around the world as the runner who was almost bounced out of the 1967 Boston marathon, she had entered as K.V. Switzer and was assumed to be a male. Women were first officially permitted to run in 1972.

Atlanta was selected as the first venue because 1) Avon had a large headquarters there, 2) its running community was large and thus provided an army of volunteers, and 3) finishers all received a medal with the Greek goddess Atalanta pictured on the front.

Atalanta was very fleet of foot and would only marry the man who could beat her in a footrace. The mythology revolves around the strategies used by Melanion to win (https://www.paralumum.com/atalanta.htm) . It was logical for the second venue to be Waldniel and honor Dr. van Aaken’s efforts in helping women have sport opportunities.

Every race was well-attended by runners from around the world, showing clearly that marathon running by women was worthy of Olympic consideration. This was understood by Olympic officials as well; it simply needed to be documented. As Long Distance Running Chairman for the USA’s Amateur Athletic Union, I served as a liaison between the national governing body’s national office and the race organizers.

I had the occasion to write to Monique Berlioux, then Director of the IOC with a request that she attend the Atlanta race. “I am most sorry to miss this occasion which I am certain will prove very exciting and a positive boost to women athletes,” she wrote on 07 March 1978, “who – you will forgive me for adding – are as much, if not better, suited physiologically than men to long distance running, although to date races for women have tended to be fairly short.”

Atlanta 1978

In the Atlanta race, little-known Martha Cooksey, 23, running her eighth marathon, came from behind in the later stages to defeat a field that had 17 of the world’s top 24 women marathoners. Runner-up was Hungary’s Sarolta Monspart, first European under three hours, and the first woman distance runner from the Eastern bloc of nations to compete in the West. Third place went to Germany’s Manuela Angenvorth, who was one of Dr. van Aaken’s runners.

Waldniel 1979

In 1979 the Avon championships moved to Waldniel, but unusually warm weather there as well slowed finish times.

One unusual twist was that there was no charge for entering the event! Coach Bryan Smith brought two of his star pupils from the Barnet Ladies Athletic Club, and they had a good day: 41-years-old Joyce Smith (Bryan’s wife) won by more than three minutes, ahead of 24-years-old American Kim Merritt and 35- years-old Barnet teammate Carol Gould.

London 1980

In 1980, for the first time in history the downtown streets of London were to be closed for an athletic event (the next year would see the organization of the first London city marathon, which continues today!). Race date was 03 August, just two days after the Moscow men’s marathon; the women thus could watch on television the men’s equivalent of their event and use it as a motivational tool.

Amazingly, 27 countries sent athletes, spanning five continents – just the kind of participation needed to demonstrate that this event was worthy of Olympic status. The event was televised worldwide by both the BBC and NBC. Despite another warm day, winner Lorraine Moller had to score a personal best to do it, for a fast-approaching Nancy Conz from the USA also was on PR pace.

Ottawa 1981

Moving to Canada in 1981 for the 4th edition of this series, the Ottawa race course was scenic, starting and finishing near the downtown Parliament buildings. After crossing the Ottawa River into French-speaking Hull, Quebec, the route returned to Ottawa and connected to the Rideau Canal for an out-and-back journey alongside. Completed in 1832, it is North America’s oldest continuously operating canal, and was celebrating its sesquicentennial. Runners appreciated its tree-lined coolness but shade temperatures still reached the 70s Fahrenheit (20s Celsius), with 80% humidity thwarting attempts at setting personal bests.

Nancy Conz, from Easthampton, Massachusetts – 24 years old, a running shoe store sales clerk, and runner-up at Avon London the year previous, took the lead at 5 km and stayed there, winning with 2:36:46, 42 seconds slower than at London. Conz had just recovered from setting a pending American record for the one-hour run at a meet in Amherst, Mass., so she was definitely fit.

The weather slowed her down near the finish, however, allowing a fast-closing Joan Benoit to come within half a minute of catching Conz. Third place went to Julie Isphording (19) of Cincinnati, Ohio, an unknown showing great potential. (Indeed, she later earned a spot on the 1984 USA Olympic marathon team). Every competitor had reason to celebrate, however, for this was the first all-women’s marathon to occur after the IOC’s vote at its Executive Board meeting earlier in the year (February 23) to include a women’s marathon on the 1984 Los Angeles Games competition calendar.

In the evening, the organizers hosted a celebratory dance party after a sumptuous dinner, which lasted past midnite. The most memorable happening was certainly seeing 80-years-old Ruth Rothfarb of Miami Beach on the dance floor – with surprising energy. It had been her marathon debut, and she finished in 5:39:57, 386th among the 389 finishers, making her the oldest woman ever to have finished a marathon.

In fact, an interesting outgrowth from this marathon was the onset of an extensive polemic in running magazines regarding the setting of age limits for people running marathons. Is a marathon too risky in terms of musculoskeletal injury for people as old as Rothfarb, or as young as 11-years-old Jennifer Amyx from Woodboro, Maryland, whose Ottawa race was her eleventh marathon (she finished 46th in 3:02:58 [and would break three hours a year later])?

Neither of these women were highly competitive, running for fun and very gradually increasing their weekly training load over time. For them, entering races was more a celebration of fitness than a competition against time. This doubtless explains their lack of injuries. However, the potential problem of injury from repetitive impact stress to the growth plates of the lower limb bones among runners younger than 18 years of age remained of concern. This awareness led to the publication of a position paper by IMMDA in the fall of 2001 recommending to race directors that they prohibit runners under 18 years from entering marathons (https://kidsrunning.com/news/krnewsmarathonstatement.html) . IMMDA is the medical arm of AIMS.

San Francisco 1982

The 5th Avon Women’s Marathon Championship was held in San Francisco in June of 1982, but in the intervening year after Ottawa the start-up of other women’s-only championship-quality marathons around the world increased the racing opportunities for both developing and experienced women marathoners. Three weeks after Ottawa came the first women’s-only European Marathon Cup competition in Agen, France (won by Zoya Ivanova in 2:38:58).

The first Osaka International Ladies Marathon was staged in January 1982 and was won by Italy’s Margherita Marchisio in 2:32:55. This was the third major women’s-only race staged annually in Japan. Both Nagoya and Tokyo started such races in the grandeur of a footrace across the Golden Gate Bridge.

The only problem was that the resulting long hills of Avon San Francisco kept athletes once again from achieving fast times. Avon London winner Lorraine Moller was victorious here as well, winning an exciting struggle over Ireland’s Carey May, a 22-years-old computer science major at Brigham Young University, and 34-years-old Laurie Binder, winner of the 1981 San Francisco marathon. Rules still did not permit the awarding of outright prize money, but “developmental money” was available to be placed in a trust fund, and Moller earned $15,000 for her victory.

Los Angeles 1983

The 6th Avon International Marathon had special political significance as well as being a marvelous opportunity for more than a thousand women to race over virtually all of the Olympic Marathon course at the Los Angeles Games. The race was chosen by TAC (The Athletics Congress) – the USA national governing body for athletics – as its open and masters championships for 1983. In addition it became the selection race to choose the USA marathon team competing in the First IAAF World Athletics Championships in Helsinki.

The Avon San Francisco race had been just the TAC women’s open championship, so this was big-time. Favorable racing terrain, good weather, and the Olympic spirit brought personal bests by he dozen. A 6:30 a.m. start ensured cool weather over the route that started at Santa Monica City Hall and continued in point-to–point fashion to end just outside the Olympic Stadium.

Julie Brown, a dropout at Avon Atlanta, returned with a vengeance and not only won, but her 2:26:26 at Avonn Los Angeleswas both the third fastest of the year 1983 and the fastest time ever achieved in an all-women’s race. Julie finished more than seven minutes ahead of Germany’s perennial Christa Vahlensieck whose 2:33:24 at age 34 was a personal best in a career spanning more than a decade. Christa broke 2:40:00 28 times in her ten+ years of racing internationally, and broke 2:55:00 48 times! In third place was the USA’s Marianne Dickerson (2:33:44) with a ten-minutes-plus personal best. Later that summer she ran an even faster 2:31:09 at Helsinki, where she earned the silver medal.

Paris 1984

The finale of the Avon International Marathon Circuit came in Paris, three weeks after the Los Angeles Olympic marathon for women became a reality. As runners raced and jogged through the dense parkland known as the Bois de Boulogne – site of the 1900 Olympics – they couldn’t help but be amazed at the progress made in opening the world of distance running to women. So much more work was needed. But the Avon program infused enormous amounts of both money and enthusiasm to help the governing bodies of sport carry out the mandate of providing sportive opportunities for all. It was touching indeed to see Lorraine Moller, fifth in the Los Angeles Olympics, capture her third Avon winner’s medal in Paris a scant 18 days later, together with $15,000 in pocket money, defeating a stellar field of primarily European women.

AVON Running in Berlin, Germany 1984

With the aim to encourage distance running for women worldwide, the "ambassador" for women's running Kathrine Switzer met the race director of the Berlin-Marathon, Horst Milde, at the New York City Marathon in 1983. They agreed to establish a race for women called "AVON Frauenlauf" in Berlin.

By this time no women races existed in Germany with the exception of a single race organized in Waldniel in 1979. So at first this novelty for a big city like Berlin (West) was laughed at by a lot of runners.

But Horst Milde and his team from the Berlin-Marathon were successful:

On Thursday, May 31st 1984, a public holiday called "Vatertag" (father's day!), about 645 women started their race on the famous "Straße des 17. Juni" in the Tiergarten. This was the beginning of a series of ups and downs as to the number of participants.

Winner of the first race in 1984 was Charlotte Teske (Darmstadt) in 33:27, 2. Christa Vahlensieck (Barmer TV) 33:37 and 3. Birgit Lennartz (St. Augustin) 35.37.

Today more than 12.000 runners take part in a 5 and a 10 k race, it is a big festival with children's races too. The organizers of Berlin's race for women owe AVON the development of women's races in Germany!

Dr David Martin (Atlanta) – Distance Running – Official Publication of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS)

Avon – Atlanta – 19 March 1978
225 starters; 136 finishers
Start time 1300 hr; entry fee $3.00
9 countries; age range 14-52 years

1)	Martha Cooksey	USA	02:46:16
2)	Sarolta Monspart	HUN	02:51:40
3)	Manuela Angenvoorth	FRG	02:51:53
4)	Cindy Dalrymple	USA	02:52:10
5)	Gayle Barron	USA	02:53:05
6)	Lauri Pedrinan	USA	02:53:11
7)	Gillian File	NZL	02:56:07
8)	Deborah Anderson	USA	2:56:18
9)	Marilyn Bevans	USA	02:58:26
10)	Liane Winter	FRG	02:59:42

Avon – Waldniel – 22 September 1979
263 starters; 186 finishers
Start time 1430 hr; no entry fee
21 countries; age range 20-66 years

1)	Joyce Smith	GBR	02:36:27
2)	Kim Merritt	USA	02:39:43
3)	Carol Gould	GBR	02:40:37
4)	Elizabeth Hassall	AUS	02:42:02
5)	Beth Guerin	USA	02:42:44
6)	Gayle Olinek	CAN	02:44:04
7)	Gillian File	NZL	02:45:21
8)	Heide Brenner	FRG	02:45:36
9)	Vreni Forster	SUI	02:46:17
10)	Karen Doppes	USA	02:46:38

Avon – London – 03 August 1980
216 starters; 155 finishers
Start time 1000 hr; £2 entry fee
27 countries; age range 19-67 years

1)	Lorraine Moller	NZL	02:35:11
2)	Nancy Conz	USA	02:36:02
3)	Linda Staudt	CAN	02:37:39
4)	Joan Benoit	USA	02:38:42
5)	Vreni Forster	SUI	02:38:58
6)	Martha Cooksey	USA	02:41:01
7)	Joyce Smith	GBR	02:41:22
8)	Beth Guerin	USA	2:41:44
9)	Karen Fitz	USA	02:41:52
10)	Gillian Adams	GBR	02:42:14

Avon – Ottawa – 23 August 1981
451 starters; 389 finishers
Start time 0830 hr; entry fee CDN$5.00
25 countries; age range 11-80 years

1)	Nancy Conz	USA	02:36:46
2)	Joan Benoit	USA	02:37:24
3)	Julie Isphording	USA	02:38:26
4)	Kiki Sweigart	USA	02:38:46
5)	Laura Dewald	USA	02:39:04
6)	Michele Bush	CAY	02:39:08
7)	Marie-Louise Hamrin	SWE	02:43:04
8)	Caroline Gould	GBR	02:44:32
9)	Beverley Shingles	NZL	02:46:27
10)	Vanessa Vajdos	USA	02:46:32

Avon – San Francisco – 06 June 1982
621 starters; 477 finishers
Start time 0700 hr; entry fee $10.00
26 countries; age range 11-55 years

1)	Lorraine Moller	NZL	02:36:13
2)	Carey May	IRL	02:38:32
3)	Laurie Binder	USA	02:39:46
4)	Eileen Claugus	USA	02:42:59
5)	Iciar Martinez	ESP	02:43:33
6)	Sharlet Gilbert	USA	02:43:42
7)	Mary O'Connor	NZL	02:44:53
8)	Cynthia Dalrymple	USA	02:45:04
9)	Gretchen Stermitz	USA	02:45:31
10)	Nancy Mieszczak	USA	02:45:51

Avon – Los Angeles – 05 June 1983
1036 starters; 936 finishers
Start time 0630 hr; entry fee $10.00
17 countries; age range 14-74 years

1)	Julie Brown	USA	02:26:26
2)	Christa Vahlensieck	FRG	02:33:24
3)	Marianne Dickerson	USA	02:33:44
4)	Laura Fogli	ITA	02:34:20
5)	Joyce Smith	GBR	02:34:40
6)	Deborah Eide	USA	02:35:16
7)	Margaret Groos	USA	02:37:04
8)	Nancy Ditz	USA	02:37:58
9)	Karen Dunn	USA	02:38:48
10)	Laura Dewald	USA	02:38:52

Avon – Paris – 23 September 1984
708 starters; 612 finishers
Start time 0900 hr; entry fee $10.00
20 countries; age range 20-57 years

1)	Lorraine Moller	NZL	02:32:44
2)	Carla Beurskens	NED	02:32:53
3)	Charlotte Teske	FRG	02:33:32
4)	Christa Vahlensieck	FRG	02:34:28
5)	Dorothy Goertzen	CAN	02:35:24
6)	Magda Ilands	BEL	02:35:36
7)	Ngaire Drake	NZL	02:36:54
8)	Joyce Smith	GBR	02:37:16
9)	Chantal Langlace	FRA	02:37:30
10)	Sylvianne Levesque	FRA	02:37:41

Donation from Dr. David Martin

In a ceremony at the AIMS Boardmeeting in Bangalore Dr. David Martin handed over his collection of 30 years of AVON distance running to the AIMS Marathon Museum in Berlin. "It is a jewel for the museum," said Horst Milde as supporter of the museum who had the task to bring the collection to Berlin. There are a lot of original letters to federations and runners, even posters, entry-forms, medals and pictures which keep record of the development of AVON's acitivities in the past 30 years.

A big thank you for Dave Martin's gesture and his legacy to the Sportmuseum Berlin – AIMS Marathon Museum of Running

Horst Milde

 

Horst Milde