It may be only 48 years since women were allowed to officially run the Comrades Marathon but female trailblazers have been part of this race since its origins.
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The centenary of women’s participation in the ultimate human race was on May 24.
Frances Elizabeth Hayward was the first woman to unofficially complete the Comrades Marathon in 1923, during a time when the race was only open to white men.
Frances was born on August 14, 1891, in Wiltshire, England.
Her father was part of an affluent woollen mill-owning family. She grew up in a large English home and received a good education.
From a young age, she showed her desire for independence, strong character and fortitude.
At the age of 20, she worked as a church embroideress at the County Home in Stafford.
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While being an embroideress during the early 1900s was a respectable job for a lady, working at the country home would have been considered scandalous for her station.
This was a home designed to reform women who had served time in prison and had no family support or work experience.
In a bold move, on January 3, 1914, she departed from Southampton for Cape Town on The Galician from the Union Castle Mail Steamship Company.
During this period, it was highly unusual for women to travel alone, yet she was undeterred and the excitement of the colonies drew her to South Africa.
She found herself restless in Cape Town and wanted to travel to see more of South Africa. Qualified as a clerk, she boarded a steamer headed for Natal and travelled alone to Durban in September 1921. Here she got a position as a typist.
At the age of 30, the intrigue of the Comrades Marathon had caught her attention.
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She sent a letter to Vic Clapham where she applied to run in the 1923 race. Her entry left Clapham and the athletics association confused, as they never had a woman applying to run in male athletics events before.
After considerable debate, they refused to accept her entry. In her response to the association and Vic, she was undaunted by their decision and said she would run unofficially.
On only the third Comrades race in 1923, she lined up outside the Pietermaritzburg City Hall, with the 68 men competing that year.
Dressed in a dark green gym suit and leather-soled plimsoles, she started her journey along the road to Durban.
Despite the consensus that the distance would be too great for a woman, her fellow competitors and spectators supported her.
Frances crossed the line at 11:35:00, in what would have been 28th position in a field of 30 finishers that year.
The Natal Witness reported at the time, “Hayward made a steady pace, dropping to a walk on the hills, and, at Thornybush, was last but one, a good mile behind the others.
“She looked cheerful and fit, having previously announced her intention of making Drummond by 11:00. She got to Drummond at 11:14, not far off her intended schedule.”
The article ended with, “Another signal of women’s emancipation from the thraldom of good-natured disdain in which mere man has held her.”
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She achieved what she set out to do – to be the first woman to attempt the race; and ‘to shock everybody’.
Frances stated, “I should have been content if I had beaten just one man.” She beat two who finished and 38 who dropped out.
They did not officially recognise her run due to the rejection of her entry and she received no silver medal.
