Joan Benoit Samuelson and a long list of Boston Marathon champions united to form the Bobbi Gibb Marathon Sculpture Project.

Bobbi Gibb 1966

Bobbi Gibb 1966

The project raised funds to erect a sculpture of Gibb on the Boston Marathon course. In 1966, Gibb popped out from behind forsythia bushes in Hopkinton to become the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. 

“As the first woman to run the Boston Marathon, Bobbi Gibb opened up the door for all of us who followed,” notes Samuelson, a two-time Boston champ and winner of the first Olympic Marathon for women in 1984. “Without her courage and determination, we might never have gained the chance.” 

Women’s running supporters

The Bobbi Gibb Marathon Sculpture Project raised funds from many sources, but primarily from modest donations by women’s running supporters worldwide.

The Gibb marathon sculpture was created by Gibb herself. She is an accomplished painter and sculptor who studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in the mid-1960s--at the same time that she began running longer distances. “It has been my dream to sculpt a life-size woman runner to represent all the powerful women who have run Boston since 1966,” says Gibb. 

Recognizing the Boston Marathon’s great women runners

The Bobbi Gibb Marathon Sculpture Project is coordinated by the 26.2 Foundation, a Hopkinton-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has helped install other marathon statues in and around Hopkinton--all statues of male officials or runners. “We believe it is long past time to recognize the Boston Marathon’s great women runners,” says Tim Kilduff, of the 26.2 Foundation. “The fact that Boston’s first woman runner is also a great sculptor makes this project absolutely unique and appropriate." 

In addition to Samuelson, Olympic Marathon medalists Frank Shorter, Deena Kastor, Meb Keflezighi, Bill Rogers, and Amby Burfoot all serve on the Advisory Committee. The list of Boston Marathon winners supporting the sculpture project follows:

  • Bobbi Gibb, 1966, 1967, 1968

  • Sara Mae Berman, 1969, 1970, 1971

  • Nina Kuscsik, 1972 (first official women’s champ at Boston)

  • Jackie Hansen, 1973

  • Gayle Barron, 1978

  • Jacqueline Gareau, 1980

  • Lisa Weidenbach Rainsberger, 1985

  • Amby Burfoot, 1968

  • Bill Rodgers, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980

  • Jack Fultz, 1976

  • Greg Meyer, 1983

  • Meb Keflezighi, 2014

You can show be part of this historic effort in many ways:

  • Help spread the word on social media

  • Invite Bobbi to speak at your club, library, bookstore, or other forum

  • Purchase a 12-inch bronze replica of the life-sized sculpture

  • Purchase the children's book The Girl Who Ran, the inspiring story of Bobbi Gibb published by Compendium

  • Purchase Bobbi’s books, Wind in the Fire: A Personal Journey and 26.2 Essays: A Inspiring New World View

  • Commission or purchase Bobbi’s bronze sculptures—both portraits and figures

  • Commission or purchase Bobbi’s beautiful paintings and murals

At the finish line

At the finish line

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