When women ran into history
100 years ago, they ‘hiked’ the Dipsea trail
More than 500 women will celebrate the centennial Saturday of a running revolution with a tough — and historic — footrace in Marin.
It is the 100th anniversary of the Women’s Dipsea Hike, one of the country’s pioneering sporting events for women.
The first race — called “a hike” to get around a ban on female participation in footraces — was held on April 21, 1918, when 148 women “in the flower of their youth” ran 7 miles from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach along the course of the famed Dipsea Trail.
Women were not officially allowed to run in the Dipsea, or any race, approved by the Amateur Athletic Union, until 1971, 53 years after Edith Hickman of San Francisco crossed the finish line at Stinson Beach on that spring Sunday in 1918.
“That race was a pioneering moment for women’s equality,” said Barry Spitz, author of “The Great Race” and the leading authority of the Dipsea race. The Dipsea itself started in 1905 and is the second-oldest long-distance race in the United States. Only the Boston Marathon is older.
“That race was a pioneering moment for women’s equality.” Barry Spitz, author of “The Great Race”
In 1918, it was socially unacceptable for women to participate in sporting events. “We all had our places, and it was not out there running,” said Barbara Robben, a veteran runner and triathlete. “Girls were not allowed.”
Robben has run the Dipsea 44 times and participated in more than 2,800 running, swimming and bicycle races. She has just turned 84, and plans to be on hand Saturday for her 45th trip over the course.
Two of Hickman’s granddaughters and two of her great-granddaughters also plan to run. Hickman’s own daughter, Barbara Van Meurs, will be the official starter Saturday. “It’s all about history,” Robben said. There will likely be a touch of history Saturday as women participating in the commemorative hike are encouraged to wear costumes in the style of l918, including middy blouses and cloth bibs with numbers sewn on.
The organizer of the Women’s Dipsea Hike 100 years ago was George James, a member of the San Francisco Olympic Club and a strong backer of women’s sports.
James had previously put together the first women’s swim across the Golden Gate. Other club men told him that the swim was “impossible,” because women could not stand the exertion. He was already involved in the Dipsea race — “The Sultan of the Dipsea,” the papers called him — so an all-female cross-country race was the logical next step.
He was a natural promoter and got the San Francisco Call newspaper to sponsor it. The paper decided to promote the event “The Call’s cross-country hike.” The paper awarded prizes and got San Francisco Mayor “Sunny Jim” Rolph involved. James set the rules: Every runner had to have her heart examined by a doctor, had to wear a number and had to be on hand at the Mill Valley railroad depot by 10 a.m. sharp. Everyone had to be an amateur. No professional hikers allowed.
The race was no walk in the park. To start, the runners passed the Old Mill that gave Mill Valley its name, then tackled three flights of wooden steps — 671 steps in all. They crossed Throckmorton Ridge at a place called Windy Gap, ran down to Muir Woods, then back up a ridge on a part of the trail called “Cardiac Hill,” to a summit that was more than 1,600 feet above sea level. “The equivalent of climbing a 60-story building,” Spitz said.
From there, it’s mostly downhill to the finish line in front of the old Dipsea Inn.
In that first race, Hickman, a 19year-old from San Francisco, was six minutes ahead of the other racers at the top of the last hill. She slowed up a bit on the last lap and was clocked at one hour, 18 minutes, start to finish.
“A good time, considering that some of the runners wore skirts and blouses or other cumbersome outfits, and did not have the shoes we have now,” Spitz said. Some wore hiking boots, lace-up tall boots or foot gear meant for riding horses.
Hickman’s time was broken in 1922, when Emma Reiman finished in one hour, 12 minutes. “A very good time, even today,” Spitz said.
The Women’s Dipsea Hike was hugely popular with the public. “It outdrew the regular Dipsea race,” Spitz said. The Call’s reporter said the crowds along the way topped 5,000 — five deep at the finish line — and Marin County had to call out all of its deputy sheriffs for crowd control.
“I get goose bumps looking at pictures of all those people,” Spitz said. That was at a time when Willow Camp, as Stinson Beach was then called, had fewer than 500 residents and Mill Valley had a population of only 2,500.
The event lasted five seasons, with the last run in 1922. James died that year, and more conservative views prevailed. Some churchgoers believed the race was somehow immoral, and some puritans argued that cross-country racing damaged women’s reproductive systems.
“I hope there will be more hikes for girls and women,” Hickman wrote after her 1918 victory. “I feel certain we will develop some champion who will give the men champions a tussle in any kind of walking.”
Though women participated unofficially in races in the 1950s and ’60s, they were not officially permitted to take part in the Dipsea until 1971. Two years later, Mary Etta Boitano, who was only 10 years old, was the first female to win the Dipsea with men and women participating. She also won the Bay to Breakers that year.
Mary Etta, whose married name is Blanchard, expects to be on hand to run Saturday.
The regular Dipsea race will be run on June 10.