Nina Kuscsik

Last updated

Nina Kuscsik (born January 2, 1939) is a retired long-distance runner from the United States, who has participated in over 80 marathons. [1] In 1972, she became the first woman to officially win the Boston Marathon. [2] After Beth Bonner, Kuscsik became the second American woman to complete a marathon in under three hours, running a time of 2:56:04 at the 1971 New York City Marathon (Bonner did so in the same race with 2:55:22). [3]

Contents

Kuscsik is a former American women's record-holder for a 50-mile run, through her run of 6:35:53 in 1977 in Central Park, New York. [4] She continued running into her later years and was the first woman to finish the Empire State Building Run-Up in 1979, 1980 and 1981. [5]

Before she took up running, [6] she was New York State women's speed skating champion, New York State women's roller-skating champion, and New York State women's bicycling champion, all in the same year. [7] She started running because her bicycle broke and she needed another way of being active. [7] Kuscsik believes that running creates a sense of calmness that is applicable to other parts of life [8]

She was instrumental in influencing the U.S. Amateur Athletic Union, in late 1971, to increase its maximum distance for sanctioned women's races, leading to official participation by women in marathons, beginning at Boston in 1972. [9]

Kuscsik was the only woman to participate in the first New York City Marathon in 1970. She did not feel well and had to drop out without finishing. In the following year she was one of four female finishers. She won the event in 1972. [10] That year Kuscsik, Pat Barrett, Lynn Blackstone, Liz Franceschini, Cathy Miller, and Jane Muhrke protested the rule of the Amateur Athletic Union that women marathoners had to start their race ten minutes before or after the men, which as implemented by the New York City Marathon that year meant that women had to start running ten minutes before the men. [11] [12] [10] The women protested by sitting down and waiting ten minutes while holding signs protesting the rule, before starting to run when the men started; they became known as the NYC Six due to their protest. [11] [12] [10] Ten minutes were added to their times. [11] The ten minute difference requirement was dropped later in 1972. [11] [10]

Kuscsik is a mother of three. She raised her two sons and one daughter in South Huntington, New York, in a house she bought in 1965 with her husband at the time. [7]

In 2022, Kuscsik received the Abebe Bikila Award from the New York Road Runners, which is awarded for outstanding contributions to the sport of distance running. [13]

Marathons

YearCompetitionVenuePositionNotes
1972 Boston Marathon Boston, United States 1st (woman)3:10:26 [14]
New York City Marathon New York, United States1st (woman)3:08:41 [3]
1973 Yonkers Marathon Yonkers, United States1st (woman)2:58.50 [3]
New York City Marathon New York, United States1st (woman)2:57:07 [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston Marathon</span> Worlds oldest regularly run marathon

The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was inspired by the success of the first marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics. The Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the world's best-known road racing events. It is one of six World Marathon Majors. Its course runs from Hopkinton in southern Middlesex County to Copley Square in Boston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City Marathon</span> American race

The New York City Marathon, currently branded as the TCS New York City Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 finishers in 2019 and 98,247 applicants for the 2017 race. Along with the Boston Marathon and Chicago Marathon, it is among the pre-eminent long-distance annual running events in the United States and is one of the World Marathon Majors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Benoit</span> American distance runner

Joan Benoit Samuelson is an American marathon runner who was the first women's Olympic Games marathon champion, winning the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She held the fastest time for an American woman at the Chicago Marathon for 32 years after winning the race in 1985. Her time at the Boston Marathon was the fastest time by an American woman at that race for 28 years. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abebe Bikila</span> Ethiopian marathon runner (1932–1973)

Shambel Abebe Bikila was an Ethiopian marathon runner who was a back-to-back Olympic marathon champion. He was the first Ethiopian Olympic gold medalist, winning his first gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome while running barefoot. At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, he won his second gold medal, making him the first athlete to successfully defend an Olympic marathon title. In both victories, he ran in world record time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosa Mota</span> Portuguese marathon runner (born 1958)

Rosa Maria Correia dos Santos Mota, GCIH, GCM is a Portuguese former marathon runner, one of her country's foremost athletes, being the first sportswoman from Portugal to win Olympic gold. Mota was the first woman to win multiple Olympic marathon medals as well as being the only woman to be the reigning European, World, and Olympic champion at the same time. On the 30th Anniversary Gala of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) she was distinguished as the greatest female marathon runner of all time.

Fatuma Roba is an Ethiopian long-distance runner, best known for being the first African woman to win a gold medal in the women's Olympic marathon race, at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and for winning three successive Boston Marathons.

Benjamin Basil Heatley was a British competitive long-distance runner, who was an Olympic marathon silver medallist and former world marathon record-holder. Although he favoured cross country running, he was also a skilled marathon runner and, despite running shoe technology being in its infancy, he was able to adapt easily to the change of conditions underfoot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Smith (runner)</span> New Zealand runner

Kimberley Smith is a New Zealand middle-distance and long-distance runner who retired in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathrine Switzer</span> German-born American runner (born 1947)

Kathrine Virginia Switzer is an American marathon runner, author, and television commentator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sport in Ethiopia</span>

Sports in Ethiopia include many fields, although Ethiopia is best known internationally for its middle-distance and long-distance runners. Seifu Mekonnen was an Olympic contestant for Ethiopia in boxing. The Ethiopian national football team won the 1962 African Cup of Nations. There are also traditional sports events, such as stick fighting which is popular amongst the Surma and Nyangatom people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobbi Gibb</span> American marathon runner (born 1942)

Roberta Louise Gibb is an American former runner who was the first woman to have run the entire Boston Marathon (1966). She is recognized by the Boston Athletic Association as the pre-sanctioned era women's winner in 1966, 1967, and 1968. At the Boston Marathon, the pre-sanctioned era comprised the years from 1966 through 1971, when women, who under AAU rules could not compete in the Men's Division, ran and finished the race. In 1996 the B.A.A. retroactively recognized as champions the women who finished first in the Pioneer Women's Division Marathon for the years 1966–1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon</span>

The men's marathon at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, was held on Saturday September 10, 1960. There were 69 participants from 35 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. Abebe Bikila, who ran the race barefoot, finished in world record time and became the first sub-Saharan African to win an Olympic gold medal. All three of the medalists came from nations which had never before won an Olympic marathon medal. The winning margin was 25.4 seconds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firehiwot Dado</span> Ethiopian long-distance runner

Firehiwot Tufa Dado is a female long-distance runner from Ethiopia, who won the New York City Marathon in 2011 with a personal best time of 2:23:15 hours. She also took three consecutive victories in the Rome City Marathon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Brown (athlete)</span> American retired distance runner

Julie Ann Brown is retired distance runner. She won the IAAF World Cross Country Championship in 1975 and represented the United States in the 1984 Summer Olympics in the women's marathon.

The Abebe Bikila Award is an annual prize given by the New York Road Runners club (NYRR) to honour individuals who have made a significant contribution to the sport of long-distance running. The first recipient of the award was Ted Corbitt, a founder of both NYRR and the Road Runners Club of America, who received the honour on October 27, 1978. The award is named in honour of the two-time Olympic marathon winner Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia.

Kim Merritt is a former American long-distance runner who competed in the marathon. Her career coincided with the development of women's running in the United States and she was at the forefront of distance running in the mid-1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desiree Linden</span> American long-distance runner

Desiree "Des" Nicole Linden is an American long-distance runner. She represented the United States in the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics women's marathon. In 2018, she won the Boston Marathon, becoming the first American in 33 years to win the woman's category in the event. She holds the women's 50K world record of 2:59:54.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tigst Assefa</span> Ethiopian long-distance runner (born 1996)

Tigst Assefa Tessema is an Ethiopian long-distance runner and the world record holder in the women's marathon. She has won two top-tier World Marathon Majors, both in Berlin. A former 800 meters specialist, Tigst switched to road races in 2018 and ran her first marathon in 2022.

Allan Steinfeld was the president of the New York Road Runners and race director of the New York City Marathon from 1994 to 2005. During his executive career, Steinfeld was also the technical director of the New York City Marathon and the NYRR's chief executive officer during the 1980s. In 2009, Steinfeld received the Abebe Bikila Award from the NYRR. Outside of the NYRR, Steinfeld was a co-establisher of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races in 1982.

References

  1. ↑ Rothlein, Lewis. "Here's looking at you." Women's Sports and Fitness, Oct. 1989, p. 3. Gale OneFile: Health and Medicine, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A8156453/GPS?u=orov49112&sid=GPS&xid=2c6548cd . Accessed 7 October 2019
  2. ↑ "Nina Kuscsik". Distance Running. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 N.Y. Road Runners site (results archive accessed via "Runner Tools") Retrieved 6 May 2012
  4. ↑ "RRCA Hall of Fame Inductees 1980 - 1989". Road Runners Club of America. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  5. ↑ "Nina Kuscsik". New York Road Runners. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  6. ↑ Robinson, Roger. "Women's Running Pioneers Kuscsik, Gorman Honored". Runner's World. Rodale Press. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 Butler, Charles (November 2012). "Sole SISTERS of 72". Runner's World.
  8. ↑ "Nina Kuscsik Goes the Distance". American Journal of Nursing. 78. June 1978.
  9. ↑ Butler, Charles (October 19, 2012). "40 Years Ago, Six Women Changed Racing Forever". Runner's World. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 4 ""Who says it is not the most feminine thing a woman can do?": The Feminization of Women's Distance Running". October 15, 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "40 Years Ago, Six Women Changed Racing Forever" (PDF). Runner's World.
  12. 1 2 "Women who run". www.continental-tires.com.
  13. ↑ "Nina Kuscsik to Receive Abebe Bikila Award at 2022 TCS New York City Marathon". runningusa.org. 29 September 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
  14. ↑ "Boston Marathon History: Women's Open Champions". Boston Athletic Association. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
Sporting positions
Preceded by Abebe Bikila Award
2022		Succeeded by
Incumbent


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.