28-Oct-1973 – Women’s Marathon – 2:59:25.6 – Adidas SL 72
Date of birth: 27-May-1949
Nationality: West German (at the time)
Women-Only World Record duration: 10 months, 25 days
The athlete:
To start with, as we know back in 2012 World Athletics began to recognise the women-only marathon world record alongside the outright women’s marathon world record. It began this progression from 2005, and to my knowledge has not attempted to track the progression from before this time.
Given this gap in knowledge, I felt there was an opportunity to chronicle the progress of this world record more completely, particularly given we know that the first women-only marathon was held on 28 October 1973. Women’s distance running was undergoing rapid growth coming into the seventies. After many women competed at marathon races by effectively sneaking into the fields, more and more events began formally allowing women to enter.
Despite many in officialdom still citing dated and sexist concerns about the physical ability of women to run such distances, there were those who equally put their efforts into providing greater opportunities for women. One such individual was Dr Ernst van Aaken, who had been promoting the cause of women’s running since the fifties. Although taken for granted nowadays, it took years and years of lobbying from running legends like Jacqueline Hansen and Kathrine Switzer to shift thinking and get the same racing opportunities for women.
As for van Aaken, he decided to hold the first ever marathon that was for women only near his hometown in Waldniel, Germany. Most of the runners were German, including one of his proteges named Christa Vahlensieck. Although little information is available about that monumental first women-only marathon, Vahlensieck won some seconds ahead of her next competitor. In her debut at the distance, she managed to just break the three-hour barrier.
Vahlensieck would go on to set the women-only marathon world record and outright women’s marathon world record several more times during the seventies, cementing her status as one of the legends of the sport.
The shoes:
Unfortunately we do not have any clear photos of Vahlensieck from the race that would give us an idea of her footwear. We do however have footage of the 1974 Women’s International Championship Marathon where Vahlensieck finished third.
We can fairly clearly see her blue Adidas runners with white overlays and a highly distinctive red line along the blue midsole. This marks it out as the Adidas SL 72, first introduced in 1970 as a training shoe that could still be used for faster paces. The full-length white stripes set it apart from the similar Achill model. The SL 72 differentiated itself with nylon uppers to make the model even lighter, the midsole otherwise featuring a thicker wedge of rubber beneath the heel to absorb impact.
Given the timing of the model’s release as well as the success Vahlensieck had in 1973 and coming into 1974, including second at the 1974 Boston Marathon, it is plausible that she would have worn the SL 72 for those previous races as well. If of course you have photos proving otherwise, I would be delighted to get in touch.
References:
Marathon Woman by Kathrine Switzer
A Long Time Coming by Jacqueline Hansen
Top Ten Women Marathoners
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christa_Vahlensieck
https://www.runnersworld.de/news-fotos/die-elf-berliner-marathon-weltrekorde/
https://www.leichtathletik.de/news/news/detail/was-macht-eigentlich-christa-vahlensieck
https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/deutsche-cross-lauf-meisterin-in-der-langstrecke-%C3%BCber-5-200-news-photo/1213378806
https://more.arrs.run/runner/5607
https://www.100-marathon-club.de/sites/default/files/inline-files/100-km-Läufe in Westfalen von 1969 bis 2006.pdf
https://www.thedeffest.com/vintage-ads/adidas-1977-vintage-sneaker-ad-for-the-sl72-running-shoes
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