Listen To Live Coverage Of The Boilermaker On WIBX!

Utica, NY (WIBX) – WIBX invites you to joins us for live coverage of the Boilermaker 15k road race on Sunday morning, anchored by Roger Robinson and Kathrine Switzer!

The Boilermaker pre-race show starts at 7:00 on Sunday morning with live coverage at the start and finish lines. We’ll get you ready for the fast paced action and tell you about the elite runners who travel from all around the world to particpate in this great race.

Meet our special guests:

Kathrine Switzer has been a part of the WIBX broadcasting team covering the Boilermaker 15 K for over 25 years. However, she will always be best known as the first woman to officially run the famous Boston Marathon in 1967. Her entry created an uproar and worldwide notoriety when a race official attempted to forcibly remove her from the competition. (The resulting photographs became so famous around the globe that they are now featured in Time Life’s book: 100 Photos That Changed the World.).

Kathrine began her marathon running while still a student at nearby Syracuse University and over the years has run many races in the Utica area, including the Boilermaker. She has run hundreds of road races, including 38 marathons, and won the 1974 New York City Marathon.

After a successful athletic career she turned her attention to the creation of women’s opportunities in runnning, and led the drive to make the women’s marathon an official Olympic event in 1984, which transformed the landscape of the sport. Especially noteworthy is Kathrine’s creation and direction of the Avon Internantional Running Circuit, with 400 events in 27 countries that opened the doors to running for over a million women.

She continued with a career as a business woman, as a broadcaster—she’s won several Emmys– and as an author. She is the author of several books including her award-winning memoir Marathon Woman and is co-author, with her husband and Boilermaker co-commentator, Roger Robinson, of 26.2 Marathon Stories which was named by Runners World as one of the best five running books ever. (For further information about Kathrine’s books, go to www.shop.marathonwoman.com)

Kathrine is a highly motivating speaker; she and Roger often speak in tandem, as they do here annually at the Boilermaker forum. She continues as a leader in the equality of women in sports globally and has received numerous awards and citations for her efforts in creating opportunities and positive social change– including being inducted this October into the National (U.S.A.) Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY. She still runs in marathon events as a not-too-serious age-group competitor. At the Boilermaker, she claims to have the best seat in the house as she commentates alongside the elite women runners, live off the back of a Harley.

Roger Robinson, guest commentator for the WIBX Boilermaker broadcast on July 10, is one of the world’s leading writers and speakers on the sport of running. He has won three awards for excellence in running journalism, including this year’s Les Diven Award for his outstanding coverage of the Boilermaker in print, on-line, and on radio, in his work for the last twelve years for WIBX. This will be presented during Boilermaker Weekend.

Roger is also a successful author. His latest book is a new edition of “Heroes and Sparrows: a Celebration of Running,” a 25th anniversary edition of a classic of the running movement. In 1986, it was the first book to describe and celebrate the “brave new world” of running.

Roger’s wife Kathrine Switzer, the legendary pioneer of women’s running, is also part of the WIBX team. Together they wrote “26.2 Marathon Stories,” a full-color illustrated introduction to all aspects of the marathon. Roger’s “Running in Literature” combines his knowledge of running and its history with his other life as a university professor. He has published books on Robert Louis Stevenson, H.G. Wells and others. For more detail of all Roger’s books, and his career, go to http://www.roger-robinson.com/

Roger first came to Utica to run the Boilermaker when he was one of the world’s best masters (over 40) runners. He won several world titles and set age-group records at the Boston and New York City Marathons and many other big races. Born in Great Britain, he represented England and later New Zealand as a runner at world championship level, and kept going strong as a masters competition.

He is also a top-level stadium and TV commentator, working at Olympic and Commonwealth Games, and as race announcer in the US and New Zealand. His contributions to running, he says, “most often involve finding well-crafted words to describe the sport I love.”

The Boilermaker is one of Roger Robinson’s favorite races each year – “because of the friendliness of the organizers, the unique community involvement, the party atmosphere, and the dedication and quality of the WIBX team.”

**In recognition of his outstanding race insight during the WIBX radio broadcast and wonderful articles about the Boilermaker 15k Road Race, Roger was awarded the Les Diven Media Award this week.

“He simply nailed it,”, said Boilermaker Executive Director Tim Reed of Roger’s artcile following last year’s race, about the symbolic relationship between Utica and the Boilermaker.

If you’re at the Boilermaker, how will you know who you’re cheering for if you don’t bring your radio? Have it tuned to WIBX 950 am, Your News, Talk and Sports Leader!