Hoje corri a minha primeira Mini-Marathon - 10K, só para meninas. Muitas famílias com gerações de corredoras, muitos cartazes "Run, Mom, Run!," muitas senhoras que correram na primeira edição há 40 anos atrás. Do site dos New York Road Runners,
"6,122 Women Celebrate 40th Anniversary of the "Mini"
The annual NYRR New York Mini 10K has inspired passion and commitment for 40 years. As the first-ever road race exclusively for female participants, the “Mini” has a loyal cadre of followers who feel an almost religious devotion to an event that has come to symbolize the journey of women’s running from obscurity to dominance.
The first Mini—originally known as the Crazylegs Mini Marathon, a six-mile race in Central Park—took place on June 3, 1972, a few weeks before the passage of the landmark Title IX legislation, which opened the doors to women’s equality in sports. The race had 78 entrants, a huge number at the time, and was considered more a curiosity than a serious sporting event.
Today, 53 percent of all road race finishers are female. Women compete at the world-class level at distances from 100 meters to the ultramarathon. And every year, thousands of them finish the Mini, which continues to attract world-class competitors, first-timers, and everyone in between. This year's Mini had 6,122 finishers, the most since 1997. Leading them was Edna Kiplagat, 32, of Kenya, the reigning World Marathon champion and the 2010 ING New York City Marathon champion. Kiplagat broke away from the field on a downhill in the fifth mile and broke the tape in 32:08. For Kiplagat, the race served as a final tune-up for the 2012 Olympic Marathon. She and seven other women in the field will toe the line in London on August 5.
The 1972 Mini champion was 17-year-old Jacqueline Dixon, who flew in from California for the opportunity to compete against the nation’s best. This year, Dixon, now 57, returned to the race for the first time to be part of a special recognition ceremony for women’s running legends and many-time Mini finishers.
“Look how far we’ve come,” said Dixon, whose granddaughter, Tali, ran today—her first-ever 10K. “Running is gift we all give ourselves.”
Mini co-founders and women’s running legends Kathrine Switzer, 65, and Nina Kuscsik, 73, were also on hand for the ceremony. “It’s a social revolution,” said Switzer, who finished in 58:28 wearing her original Crazylegs T-shirt. “It’s beyond running. It’s changing women's lives by changing the social fabric of their lives.”
Kuscsik, who walked the course in 1:21:53 with friends, spoke about the massive changes of the past 40 years. “Back in 1972 or ’73, I once had this fantasy of two women going for a run together,” she said. “It was a fantasy back then—no one thought that was possible. In just a few years, all of that changed.”
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