Boston’s Spotlight Shines Bright on Minnesotan Women during Historic Anniversary
By: Jonathon Heide
Images: Mateo Fischer and Jonathon Heide
For the first time in two years, the Boston Marathon returned to the Patriot’s Day holiday as two Minnesota women runners were in the national spotlight. One is a pioneer in the sport; the other is building off the legacy of women runners and finished as the fourth place American on the 50th anniversary of the first official Boston Marathon women’s race.
The pioneer is Val Rogosheske, one of the eight women to run in 1972 at the first official women’s race. Prior to that year, the much ballyhooed Amateur Athletic Union held a firm line against women competing in the 26.2 mile run. Marathon directors agreed with them for years, but public opinion turned after women fought for equality in all areas of society, including sports.
Some women ignored the rules during the 1960s and ran as “bandits,” without official entry. Bobbi Gibb did it in 1966, finishing and beating many men on the Massachusetts course. In 1967, a photographer from the Boston Herald captured race organizer Jock Semple attempting to pull Kathrine Switzer off the course. Switzer had registered as K. V. Switzer, so she had an official bib.
While Rogosheske was never pulled off a course, she grew up with society pushing her away from the idea of competing. She attended Edina High School until 1965 and studied physical education at St. Cloud University, graduating in 1969—all without the opportunity for organized women’s sports.
But someone challenged her to time herself running a mile on the St. Cloud track, and that got her motivated. She and her husband, Phil, moved to the East Coast, and she set her sights on Boston. When the officials fired the gun, she was one of the eight women to run (though she wasn’t included in a pre-race photo with the other seven). People cheered her on as she journeyed to Boston on foot.
Throughout the week leading up to this year’s race, runners could see pictures and hear stories about the women who ran in 1972. Pictures and stories of Rogosheske and the seven other women were nearly everywhere runners looked—the official program, Copley Square, every media outlet in the city—people could even view the light blue Asics Onitsuka Tigers that Rogosheske wore during her groundbreaking first marathon. They were on display in museum style, encased behind glass at the Boston Marathon Expo’s history exhibit.
Rogosheske spoke on a panel before this year’s race. She joined the other women who blazed the trail in 1972 (Carrie Tollefson mediated). Rogosheske was also nominated to the Boston Marathon’s 2022 “Honorary Team” along with Verna Volker, the founder of Native Women Running.
Leading up to that historic 76th edition of the Boston Marathon, Rogosheske said her training was cut short due to illness, resulting in her sixth-place finish. She continued her training and improved her times. A year later, when she showed up at the 11th running of the Minnesota’s Land of Lakes Marathon in 1973, Rogosheske was able to hold pace with several of the 80 men who started.
They took four laps around Bald Eagle Lake in White Bear Lake while nearby residents watched in amusement. Steve Hoag led the men and Rogosheske won first for the women, coming in at 3:21:57. It was the first “official” women’s marathon race in Minnesota.
Half a century later, Rogosheske returned to Hopkinton, Massachusetts, at age 75—not just to remember the anniversary of the historic race—but to run it again. Her two daughters and her cousin stood by her side, running shoes ready, holding signs that celebrated half a century of women’s races.
As media crews and reporters followed her story, Rogosheske and her family members ran and walked down the hills, through the small towns, past the scenic views of trees and rock, and up the four Newton Hills to turn once again onto Boylston en route to the finish line. Together they passed under the overarching Boston Marathon finish line banner at 6:38:57.
Rogosheske was also the official starter for the elite women. She fired the starting pistol and sent the field of 42 women sprinting into the course’s downhill miles. The elite frontrunners included Dakotah Lindwurm, a runner with Minnesota Distance Elite based in the Twin Cities. Lindwurm ran with the lead women through the early miles and kept pushing through the hills from mile 17 through 21 while wearing her trademark smile.
As Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir outdueled Ethiopian Ababel Yeshaneh down the homestretch to win in 2:17:16, Lindwurm churned through the final miles and finished 14th overall in 2:29:55.
Lindwurm was the fourth American woman finisher, and she was more than a minute faster than her 2021 Boston race (which took place in October due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Ahead of Lindwurm this year, Des Linden of Boston finished 13th (2:28:47), Stephanie Rothstein-Bruce of Flagstaff, Arizona, finished 12th (2:28:02) and Nell Rojas of Boulder, Colorado, finished 10th (2:25:57) as the first American, winning $5,500. Rojas also has a Grandma’s Marathon connection—she won the 2019 race, which set the stage for her ninth place finish at the 2020 Olympic Trials Marathon, her win at the 2021 USATF 10 Mile Championship and her sixth place finish (first American overall) in last year’s Boston Marathon.
Lindwurm, 26, became a statewide Minnesota hero when she won the women’s race at the 2021 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth with a time of 2:29:04, becoming the first champ from the North Star State since Janice Ettle won in 1991. Lindwurm had trained with her Minnesota Distance Elite coach through the winter and claimed the sixth fastest winning time at the race, vaulting her into the national running scene.
All of a sudden, people wanted to know more about the former high school hockey goalie from the north Metro. And while reporters did uncover her national level DII college running at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota, few detailed her three first place finishes at the ridiculously challenging Eugene Curnow Trail Marathon (2014, 2015 and 2016).
Lindwurm followed up her Grandma’s win with a great performance at the 2021 Boston, where she was in the front of the lead pack, grinning through the miles. She finished 13th in 2:31:04. Then in December 2021, she ran a scorching half at the USATF Half Marathon Championship, clocking a 1:09:40 for third place. (Elena Hayday, a 22 year-old Minneapolis resident, came in 26th in the race in 1:16:10, just about a minute behind former St. Paulite Gwen Jorgensen).
Sponsors noticed. In 2022, Puma added Lindwurm to their list of sponsored runners. Annie Frisbee, another Minnesota Distance Elite runner, was also added. Frisbee, 25, had surprised many by running 2:26:18 at the 2021 New York City Marathon, placing as the seventh overall woman (third American).
Also in Boston this year, Frisbee ran the 5K on Saturday morning. She finished 12th, breaking 16 minutes by three seconds in a race that was more of a tune up for her upcoming racing season (Ethiopian Senbere Tefere won the race in 14:49).
While Rogosheske planted the seeds for women’s professional racing half a century ago, Lindwurm has reaped the benefits. Rogosheske’s run on that day 50 years ago finished in 4:29:32.
Her legacy will much longer.
Top boston Finishers from Minnesota
WOMEN (of 10,568)
14. Dakotah Lindwurm, 26, St. Francis, 2:29:55
106. Alyssa Kaplan, 29, Minneapolis, 2:54:03
144. Cheryl Jeseritz, 43, Savage, 2:56:29
164.Olivia Anger, 24, Apple Valley, 2:57:11
265. Brianna Hickey, 28, Minneapolis, 3:01:46
MEN (of 14,258)
84. Tyler Morey, 33, Plymouth, 2:28:30
114. Louis Hughes, 32, Minneapolis, 2:30:12
173. Matthew Boumeester, 35, St. Paul, 2:32:15
352. Christian Hall, 30, Minneapolis, 2:38:09
522. Nick Thomas, 25, Duluth, 2:41:07