{"id":67714,"date":"2017-03-13T19:30:10","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T01:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-woman-will-run-boston-marathon-with-kathrine-switzer\/"},"modified":"2017-03-14T01:30:10","modified_gmt":"2017-03-14T01:30:10","slug":"mancos-woman-will-run-boston-marathon-with-kathrine-switzer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-woman-will-run-boston-marathon-with-kathrine-switzer\/","title":{"rendered":"Mancos woman will run Boston Marathon with Kathrine Switzer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mancos
Mancos native Rosy Spraker, far left, will run in the 2017 Boston Marathon next month with running legend Kathrine Switzer, third from left. Also pictured is Spraker\u2019s sister Darla Whipple-Frain, fourth from left.<\/span>Courtesy of 261 Fearless<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More than 100 other runners representing 20 countries will join Switzer at this year\u2019s marathon on April 17. The team represents 261 Fearless, Inc., Switzer\u2019s new nonprofit that empowers women around the world through a social running community, according to a news release.<\/p>\n

Switzer, now 70, had a rough start in the 1967 Boston Marathon when an angry race director tried to pull off her bib number \u2014 261 \u2014 and throw her out of the race because the event was for men only. The incident ignited the women\u2019s running boom, the release states.<\/p>\n

Spraker, who now lives in Lorton, Virginia, has run the Boston Marathon 10 consecutive times. Her goal is to run the marathon 15 more years for a total of 25 consecutive times, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKathrine not only broke the glass starting line, but she continued to champion the cause of women\u2019s running for the next 50 years,\u201d Spraker said in the release. \u201cWith the money our team is raising, we will create non-competitive running clubs, coaches\u2019 education and communication programs in local communities, whether that is in Massachusetts or Albania. We\u2019re asking women everywhere to start a club and join our empowering movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spraker became friends with Switzer after meeting her at the Boston Marathon in 2007, Spraker said. 261 Fearless connects local club chapters to the national group, and Spraker has become an ambassador for a local group in Lorton, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s for women to get together and run for fun,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The seven daughters and three sons of the Whipple family grew up running on trails in the San Juan National Forest near Mancos, Spraker said.<\/p>\n

The kids also participated in Mancos school sports. Spraker and another girl went out for the boys basketball team in seventh grade, because there was not a girls team at that time, she said. Coaches didn\u2019t let the girls compete with the boys in the conference season, but it led to the creation of an intramural girls team, Spraker said.<\/p>\n

She enjoys returning to Southwest Colorado each July for Mancos Days to run in the festival\u2019s 5K event, Spraker said. Her mother, Shirley Whipple, previously was honored as a Mancos Days Queen, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always fun to come home and run the trails in Mancos,\u201d Spraker said.<\/p>\n

Cathy Yost and Sharlott Thomas, two of Spraker\u2019s sisters, help organize the Mancos Girls on the Run club, which includes about 40 third- through eighth-grade girls from the area. Spraker said she\u2019s inspired by the group and hopes the girls continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cBreaking new ground for girls has always been my passion,\u201d she said. \u201cThe empowerment you get through running will give you confidence to be fearless in other aspects of your lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1972, five years after Switzer was almost thrown out of the race, the Boston Athletics Association welcomed women as official Boston Marathon competitors, becoming the first major marathon to do so, the release states. This year, the Boston Athletic Association has continued its commitment to women\u2019s running by inviting the 261 Fearless team to participate the marathon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is only one 50th anniversary in our lives and this is a race that changed all of us,\u201d Switzer said in the release. \u201cI\u2019m training hard, and I\u2019m buoyed by the spirit of this wonderful team. But this race is not going to be about finishing time; it\u2019s about celebration, inclusion and gratitude. I\u2019m running to say thanks to a race, a city, and thousands of wonderful people who have done so much to give strength and self-esteem to women.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about 261 Fearless, Inc. visit www.261fearless.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

native Rosy Spraker, far left, will run in the 2017 Boston Marathon next month with running legend Kathrine Switzer, third from left. Also pictured is Spraker\u2019s sister Darla Whipple-Frain, fourth from left.Courtesy of 261 Fearless More than 100 other runners representing 20 countries will join Switzer at this year\u2019s marathon on April 17. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,83,60,1914],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-67714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-mancos","tag-montezuma-county","tag-running"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67714"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=67714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}