In 1967, Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to run the Boston marathon five years before women were officially allowed to compete in it. After realizing that a woman was running, race organizer Jock Semple went after Switzer shouting, “Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers.” However, Switzer’s boyfriend and other male runners provided a protective shield during the entire marathon. As a result of her run, the AAU barred women from all competition with male runners, on pain of losing the right to compete. The photographs taken of the incident made world headlines, and Kathrine later won the NYC marathon with a time of 3:07:29. Wiki