Merry Lepper

{{short description|American long-distance runner}}

Merry Lepper (born December 31, 1942){{cite web|last=Rabe|first=John|title=Fifty Years Later, A Celebration For Merry Lepper's Historic Marathon|url=http://onlyagame.wbur.org/2013/12/14/lepper-female-marathon-pioneer|access-date=14 December 2013}} is a former American long-distance runner from California who is recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations as having set a world best in the marathon on December 16, 1963, with a time of 3:37:07 at the Western Hemisphere Marathon in Culver City, California.{{Cite news|url=https://www.scpr.org/programs/offramp/2013/12/12/35089/50-years-later-culver-city-honors-first-female-mar/|title=50 years later, Culver City honors first female marathoner|last=Rabe|first=John|date=2013-12-12|access-date=2019-06-17|website=Southern California Public Radio|df=mdy-all}}

{{cite web

|title=12th IAAF World Championships In Athletics: IAAF Statistics Handbook. Berlin 2009.

|url=http://www.iaaf.org/mm/document/competitions/competition/05/15/63/20090706014834_httppostedfile_p345-688_11303.pdf

|publisher=IAAF Media & Public Relations Department

|location=Monte Carlo

|page=653

|year=2009

|access-date=May 20, 2010

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629134819/http://www.iaaf.org/mm/document/competitions/competition/05/15/63/20090706014834_httppostedfile_p345-688_11303.pdf

|archive-date=June 29, 2011

}}{{cite book

|last = Noakes

|first = Tim

|author-link = Tim Noakes

|title = The Lore of Running

|publisher = Oxford University Press

|page = 675

|edition = Fourth

|year = 2003

|isbn = 0-87322-959-2}}{{#tag:ref|According to the Association of Road Racing Statisticians, the course for the Western Hemisphere Marathon was short in 1962 and 1963.{{cite web

|title = Western Hemisphere Marathon

|url = https://www.arrs.run/HP_WHmMa.htm

|work = Association of Road Racing Statisticians

|access-date = May 10, 2010

|quote = The 1962-63 courses are considered to have been short.

}} The ARRS also notes the date of the race as December 14, 1963.{{cite web

|title = World Marathon Rankings for 1963

|url = https://arrs.run/MaraRank/ATM_Mara1963.htm

|work = Association of Road Racing Statisticians

|access-date = May 10, 2010

}}|group="nb"}}

In the early 1960s, Lepper trained with Lyn Carman (also from California){{#tag:ref|Carman has been reported as also being in her early 20s, however, data compiled by the Association of Road Racing Statisticians indicates that she would have been 27 years old.|group="nb"}}and the pair began to run unofficially in road races.{{Citation

| last = Kuscsik

| first = Nina

| author-link = Nina Kuscsik

| journal = Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

| volume = 301

| issue = The Marathon: Physiological, Medical, Epidemiological, and Psychological Studies

| pages = 862–876

| year = 1977

| doi = 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1977.tb38253.x

| title = The History of Women's Participation in the Marathon

| bibcode = 1977NYASA.301..862K

| s2cid = 84881172

}} At the 1963 Western Hemisphere Marathon, the two women hid along the sidelines then joined the men just after the start. A race official attempted to remove them from the course and Carman reportedly yelled, "I have the right to use public streets for running!"{{cite book

|last = Anderson

|first = Ruth

|title = The Complete Woman Runner

|publisher = World Publications

|year = 1978

}} The women were timed by a sympathetic AAU official; Carman eventually dropped out around the 20 mile mark, but Lepper finished with a time of 3:37:07 .{{Cite web|url=http://www.marathonguide.com/history/olympicmarathons/chapter25.cfm|title=The Fight To Establish The Women's Marathon Race|website=www.marathonguide.com|access-date=2019-06-17}}{{cite web

|title = Santa Barbara Marathon

|url = https://www.arrs.run/HP_SBbMa.htm

|work = Association of Road Racing Statisticians

|access-date = May 10, 2010

}}

Carman would eventually win the Santa Barbara Marathon in 1966, 1969, and 1970, and the World Masters Marathon in 1969.

The book "Marathon Crasher: The Life and Times of Merry Lepper, the First American Woman to Run a Marathon" (2012), by LA-based sports journalist David Davis, tells of Merry Lepper's 1963 marathon.{{cite news|url=https://www.scpr.org/programs/offramp/2012/06/05/26805/merry-lepper-first-american-woman-to-run-a-maratho/|title=Merry Lepper, first American woman to run a marathon: 1963, Culver City|date=2012-06-05|last=Rabe|first=John|website=Southern California Public Radio|access-date=2019-06-17|df=mdy-all}}{{Cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/Marathon-Crasher-Lepper-American-ebook/dp/B0080K36TY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338924717&sr=1-1|via=www.amazon.com|access-date=2019-06-17|title=Marathon Crasher: The Life and Times of Merry Lepper, the First American Woman to Run a Marathon|date=5 June 2012|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books }} However, in 1959, Arlene Pieper (also an American) became the first woman to officially finish a marathon in America when she finished the Pikes Peak Marathon.{{Cite web |url=http://www.pikespeakmarathon.org/mystique.htm |title=First woman to run marathon in US - PPM |access-date=2014-09-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211125822/http://www.pikespeakmarathon.org/mystique.htm |archive-date=2017-02-11 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.arlenepieper.com/|title=House put - Arlenepieper|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-17}} Davis's book states, "Without discounting her [Pieper's] achievement, Pikes Peak marathon is considered to be more of an endurance climb, with much walking involved, as opposed to a competitive marathon race."{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VaC0QDd7C3AC&q=%22arlene+pieper%22&pg=PA31|title=Marathon Crasher: The Life and Times of Merry Lepper, the First American Woman to Run a Marathon|last=Davis|first=David|date=2012-06-05|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=9781466817104|language=en}}

In 2013, Lepper received a commendation from Culver City. The commendation reads in part: "Now, therefore, the City Council of the City of Culver City, California, hereby congratulates and commends Merry Lepper, a shining example of how one person can overcome tremendous hurdles to fulfill a dream and, in the process, pave the way for generations to come."