Thursday evening in Tucson, I finally met the most historically-important, completely-unknown runner in America. Her name is Merry Lepper. In December, 1963, she became the first woman to run a marathon when she completed the Culver City (CA) Marathon in 3:37:07.
Lepper didn't expect to become the first woman marathoner. She thought she would share that honor with her friend and training partner, Lyn Carman. But Carman had a bad day, and eventually dropped out. Lepper kept going mainly because she didn't want her gender to have a zero-for-two record in its first marathon effort.
I'm not going to tell you much more about Lepper now, because a Los Angeles-based sports writer, David Davis, deserves credit for rediscovering Lepper last winter. He helped me connect with her in Tucson. Davis has recently written a 99-cent ebooklet about Lepper and the 1963 Culver City Marathon. It's titled Marathon Crasher and you can find it here.
DAA Industry Opt Out, Showdown At Shepherd's Bush, to be published in several weeks, about the famous 1908 Olympic Marathon in London. That's the one which was the first to cover 26 miles, 385 yards—now the standard distance. It's also the race in which Italian Dorando Pietri collapsed numerous times as he approached the finish in the London Olympic Stadium. He was eventually disqualified, due to assistance from trackside officials, and American Johnny Hayes was declared the winner.
The 1963 Culver City Marathon—also known as the Western Hemisphere Marathon—was won by Norm Higgins in 2:19:34. In 1966 Higgins would become the first American finisher at Boston (fifth overall, 2:18:26), and in 1971 he would win the second New York City Marathon (in Central Park) in 2:22:54.
Lepper never ran another marathon. She moved away from her training group to attend college, eventually completing a PhD in ecology. Two decades later, she also received a degree in veterinary medicine. Now 69, she lives with her husband deep in the mountains on the Arizona-New Mexico border. Her big passion in life is horse-riding.
