Nina Kuscsik, marathon pioneer and first (official) winner of Boston women’s race, has died

BOSTON (AP) — Nina Kuscsik, who campaigned for women’s inclusion in long-distance running and then won the Boston Marathon the first year that they were officially allowed to enter into the race, has died. She was 86.

An obituary for the A.L. Jacobsen Funeral Home in Huntington Station, New York, said Kuscsik died June 8 of respiratory failure after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

“Nina was more than a pioneer, determined women’s running advocate, and celebrated icon within the sport. To us, she was a friend who will always be remembered for her kindness, joyful laugh and smile,” the Boston Athletic Association said on Instagram.

“Nina held the distinct honor of winning the 1972 Boston Marathon, and recognized the platform that came with that triumphant moment, inspiring thousands of women to reach their own goals and finish lines in the decades since. The BAA extends heartfelt condolences to Nina’s family, friends, and all in the running community who were touched by her grace.”

According to the obituary, Kuscsik graduated from high school at 16, studied nursing for two years and received her license at 18 after petitioning to change a New York law that required nurses to be 21. She won state championships in speed skating, roller skating and cycling – all in the same year — before turning to running when her bicycle broke.

She ran the Boston Marathon four times from 1968-71 — before women were officially welcomed, a period retroactively recognized as the Pioneer Era — and then won the first official women’s race in 1972.

She was also the first woman to enter the New York race, in 1970, and was one of the “Six who Sat” – six women who refused to start the ’72 New York City Marathon for 10 minutes to protest an Amateur Athletic Union rule that the women’s race had to be separate from the men’s. She won that year and the next year as well.

She later served on AAU and USA Track and Field committees drafting rules for women’s running. Kathrine Switzer, who entered the 1971 Boston Marathon using her initials and became the first woman to official compete, called Kuscsik “one of our greatest leaders.”

“Nina was not only a champion runner, but was instrumental in the official acceptance of women and distance running because she did years of tough work of changing rules, regulations and submitting medical evidence to prove women’s capability,” said Switzer, who started alongside Kuscsik and six other women who met the qualifying time for the the 1972 Boston race.

“Eight of us registered, eight of us showed up, and all eight of us finished,” she said. “It was a stunning moment — and a blistering hot day — but appropriately enough, Nina won.”

In addition to the more than 80 marathons she ran over her lifetime, Kuscsik set the American record for the 50-mile run in 1977 and won the Empire State Building Run-Up three straight years from 1979–81.

She was inducted into the Long Distance Running Hall of Fame in 1999.

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