I’m in the process of working with Cheryl Treworgy to write a book about her life. She became the first woman in the world to break 2:50 in the marathon, in 1971.
If you are interested in hearing about the book once it’s finished and has a publisher, please sign up here.
When Cheryl wanted to start running in high school, her school had no track or cross-country teams for girls, so she had to train by herself. She was good enough to get a scholarship to Indiana State University—before women’s athletic scholarships existed. But she had very few female running peers, so she had to race in high school boys’ cross-country meets.
A few years later, when Cheryl broke the world record for the marathon in 1971, no one was waiting to interview her at the finish. When the papers did cover it, the headline of one article was “Pretty Cheryl Enjoys Running.” It talked about her measurements and her appearance before it got to the fact that she broke a world record.
Cheryl also made five world cross-country teams. She has seen the world of women’s sports—and women’s running in particular—transform since the 1960s, and she has seen countless girls and women empowered by sports. She has crashed through barriers in sport and in life. As an athlete, a coach, an assistant athletic director, a professional sports photographer in a field dominated by men, a sports bra designer, and the mother of Olympic medalist Shalane Flanagan, she has seen the inequalities between men and women break down, and she knows where they still persist.
To read more about her, see this article I wrote, and well as this News & Record article about her.