Dawn's Brain - Elaine "Petie" Koverman Memorial

Obituaries

March 10, 2000

The San Francisco Chronicle, D-8

Elaine Pedersen of Mill Valley Blazed Trail for Female Runners

Elaine Pedersen, a Mill Valley resident who helped break the men-only barrier in long-distance road racing, died Monday in a Houston hospital after a short battle with cancer. She was 63.

Ms. Pedersen came relatively late to running, having discovered that she liked covering long distances on foot when she was in her late 20s. But although she did not possess world-class speed, she had an immediate effect on the Bay Area racing scene, "liberating" the previously all-male Dipsea Race in 1966 and the Bay to Breakers in '67.

Then came her defining moment. In 1972, after several years of trying to get into the Boston Marathon field - and being repulsed because of her sex - she was one of a handful of women to be accepted as the first official female entrants in what is perhaps the world's most famous footrace. She was the second woman to cross the finish line in that 26-mile, 385-yard race, covering the course in 3 hours, 20 minutes, 38 seconds. She ran 20 more marathons, but never one as fast.

"It was really an earth-shattering moment," Ms. Pedersen said in an interview in The Chronicle in 1997. "The Boston Marathon is the creme de la creme (of road racing). To be there, to be a part of all that was exciting....It was a watershed in many ways."

Although Ms. Pedersen was a pioneer in women's sports, she was something of a reluctant trailblazer. "I didn't start out to be one," she said in 1997. "I just liked to run."

Ms. Pedersen, who continued to compete in Bay Area running events, especially the Dipsea, which she considered her favorite race, long after her ground-breaking Boston, discovered that she had bone marrow cancer in October. She went to Houston's Anderson Hospital for a bone marrow transplant, which proved unsuccessful. A second operation was being arranged when acute leukemia was diagnosed. She then contracted pneumonia and died.

She is survived by her husband, Gary Koverman, who stated that it was Ms. Pedersen's wish to be cremated and her ashes strewn over the Dipsea Trail.

- Dan Giesin

March 12, 2000

The Marin Independent Journal

Elaine Pedersen Koverman of Mill Valley, a pioneering figure in women's running, died on Monday. She was in a Houston hospital, undergoing advanced treatment in her long battle with bone marrow cancer. Pedersen, a flight attendent with United Airlines for more than three decades, was 63.

In both the 1966 and '67 Dipsea Races, several years before the Amateur Athletic Union rule changes finally allowed women to enter officially, Pedersen was the only female finisher. In '66, Pedersen had to hide behind bushes at the start to escape AAU scrutiny although the more liberal Dipsea race committee itself had actually assigned her a bib number and recorded her finish. The AAU subsequently expunged her from the results. High quality films of the Dipsea Races of that era made by Pedersen's boyfriend at the time, Pax Beale, survive with much footage of her.

In 1969, Pedersen was the second woman finisher, still unofficial, in the Boston Marathon. Beale also says she was the first woman ever to run Bay to Breakers, again in the pre-official era. In 1973, she was 18th in the first-ever AAU-sanctioned national women's marathon championship with a 3:25:54.

I had the pleasure of meeting "Petie" as she was affectionately called, many times over the years. Here's an example of her warmth, her graciousness, her goodness:

Norman Bright, the legendary Dipsea champion, was planning a trip back from his Seattle home. As he was totally blind, ailing, in his 80s, and had a reputation as demanding, offers to house and escort him weren't forthcoming. Pedersen, hearing this, immediately volunteered. Bright, who remembered her from his racing days, was comfortable, and the trip became a memorable one.

Pedersen's husband, Gary Koverman, delivered a touching eulogy. "She crossed the finish line in the race of life and she did so without fear or pain."

The time and place of a memorial service will be announced shortly. She has willed her ashes to be scattered on the Dipsea Trail.

- Barry Spitz

March 10, 2000

AP News Service

Pioneer woman runner dead at 63

(03-10) 10:36 PST SAN FRANCISCO (AP)
-- Elaine Pedersen, who helped smash the men-only barrier in long-distance running, is dead at the age of 63.

Pedersen, who lived in Mill Valley, died Monday at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where she went for treatment after learning in October that she had bone marrow cancer. A marrow transplant failed and she was scheduled for a second one when she contracted pneumonia.

She began running in her late 20s. After being rejected several times by the Boston Marathon because of her sex, she was one of a handful of women finally accepted in 1972 to compete in the world's most famous long-distance foot race.

"It was really an earth-shattering moment," she told the San Francisco Chronicle in 1997. "The Boston Marathon is the creme de la creme. To be there, to be a part of all that was exciting ... it was a watershed in many ways."

She also helped integrate the formerly all-male Dipsea Race in Marin County in 1966 and San Francisco's Bay to Breakers run in 1967.

Pedersen is survived by her husband, Gary Koverman.

March 30, 2000

Website: Eves India

Marathon frontrunner's finish line

Many female runners have Elaine Pedersen to thank for being able to partake in marathons across the country. After being turned down several times by the Boston Marathon because of her gender, she protested until she was accepted in 1972. She also opened the finish line to all sexes in Marin County, California's Dipsea Race in 1996 and San Francisco's Bay to Breakers run in 1997. Pedersen, who had bone marrow cancer, died from pneumonia at age 63. Salute to her.