Nina Kuscsik

Nina Kuscsik will be the official starter of the women's elite field, 35 years after she won the first official women's title at the Boston Marathon in 1972 with a 3:10:26 performance. She has entered the race unofficially three times before, but women were not recognized as official runners until 1972.

From the Boston Globe, Tuesday, April 18, 1972 ...

Mrs. Kuscsik happy depite 'poor' time

by Margo Miller

The winner, Mrs. Nina Kuscsik, thought her time of 3:10:26 was "pretty lousy". She's used to doing the Marathon in 2:56.

Runner-up Elaine Pederson came in salt-streaked but looking fresh as a daisy at 3:20:35 and said that she couldn't have done it without the "wonderful Boston crowds cheering you for the whole 26 miles."

And when it was over, Kathy Miller who was third at 3:29:51, recalled that last week she'd had a dream that Elaine Pederson had beaten her.

This 76th Boston Marathon marked the first time women were legal entrants. Mrs. Kuscsik, Miss Pederson and others of the Boston Nine "ladies" (as the crowds persisted in calling them had run before unofficially.

There was some confusion, but officials figured that Mrs. Kuscsik's time would have been good for about 410th place among the 1081 men. She said the relatively poor times for the women runners may have been due to "trying too hard at the beginning" out at Hopkinton.

For the winner, the "satisfaction was being first in the first official time women could run," said Mrs. Kuscsik peering out at the press from under a big floppy laurel leaf.

Practice running, said Elaine Pederson who does about 50 miles a week, is a great way to day dream and "solve a lot of your problems." But when you race your mind has got to be on form. "You aim for an eight minute mile," she said, and yesterday when she realized she was doing a 7:15 mile, the Boston Marathon was a great place to be.

The only hitch came at the end when the women's locker room below ground at the Pru was discovered to be utterly lacking in soap and towels.

Source: B.A.A., boston.com