We lost one of running history’s most consequential athletes on April 17, 2025. Chris McKenzie was a great advocate for women’s inclusion in track and field and long-distance road running at the beginning of the modern era.
When Chris arrived in America from the UK in 1955, she found that women were barred from competing at any distance longer than 220 yards. She led the sport in breaking down these gender barriers.
Here are ten highlights of Chris’s legendary life:
*As a child she suffered from osteomyelitis and was told she would never be able to walk without a brace. It took three years of physical therapy and by age 16, she could walk without a brace.
*In the late 1940s she discovered the beauty and challenges of running by racing cross-country. She won a race in Scotland representing England and this launched her lifetime in athletics. The United States was still many years away from allowing women the opportunity to race at various distances.
*In 1953 she was on a world record setting 3 X 880-yard English relay team. One of her teammates was Diane Leather who was the first female to run a sub-5-minute mile.
*She moved to the United States and married Gordon McKenzie in 1955. They became the first married running couple in the United States and most likely in the world.
*They both were civil rights leaders in athletics integrating predominantly Black teams of the Police Athletic League (PAL) for Chris, and the New York Pioneer Club (NYPC) for Gordon.
*Chris and Delores Dwyer attended a closed door Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) meeting in 1956 led by Dan Ferris and Frances Kaszubski. They entered the meeting uninvited. Chris took the microphone and shouted, “ I want to know if I can run the quarter mile and half mile.”
*In 1958 the AAU allowed women to compete for a national championship at the 440- and 880-yard events. Chris won the 440 and placed third in 880.
*In 1959 she ran a race carrying a sign that read “If I can carry a baby for nine months, I can run 10 miles.”
*Thanksgiving Day 1961 was a seminal moment in women’s long distance running history when Chris, Julia Chase, and Dianne Lechausse raced unofficially in the Manchester 4.75 road race.
*Chris was the first female to run up the iconic 7.6 miles of Mount Washington.
So much of my running history preservation work has been inspired by athletes and race officials like Chris McKenzie. These individuals’ accomplishments were too often overlooked. Master Running Journalist Marc Bloom stepped came to the rescue in 2017 with this excellent three-part article on Chris.
The Legend of Maud: Chris McKenzie and the Birth of Women’s Track & Field.
Part 1:
https://www.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=44531..
Part 2:
https://www.dyestat.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=44531…
Part 3:
https://www.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=44531..
In 2021 I recruited a team of ladies who began Starting Line 1928 with a goal of telling the many untold stories of the early women running pioneers. The project reached its 50th podcast earlier this year. Here’s the interview with Chris. https://startingline1928.libsyn.com/site/23-chris-mckenzie
On of my proudest accomplishments was bringing together these nine women on a recorded conference call in 2014.
Merry Lepper, Chris McKenzie, Grace Butcher, Julia Chase Brand, Roberta Bobbi Gibb, Sara Mae Berman, Doris Brown Heritage, Judy Shapiro Ikenberry, and Arlene Pieper Stine. These are the women pioneers that set the stage for Kathrine Switzer and Nina Kuscsik and the many others that followed. Here’s a link to this over two-hour conference call:
https://tedcorbitt.com/oral-history-interviews/
Visitation – Chris McKenzie
Friday, April 25, 2025
2:00PM – 4:00PM & 6:00PM – 9:00PM
Fairchild Sons Inc
1570 Northern Boulevard
Manhasset, NY 11030
Service
Saturday, April 26, 2025
11:00AM – 12:00PM
Fairchild Sons Inc
Gary Corbitt
Archivist: Theodore Corbitt Institute for Running History Research
April 23, 2025