SITTING TIGHT On October 1, 1972, Central Park provided the stage for a sit-in by six female runners protesting the way women were treated by racing officials. From left: Lynn Blackstone, Jane Muhrcke, Liz Franceschini, Pat Barrett, Nina Kuscsik, and Cathy Miller.BY ALL ACCOUNTS, IT WAS A PERFECT DAY TO GO FOR A RUN.
But soon after the second New York City Marathon, in the fall of 1971, the AAU relented, somewhat, on its stance: It ruled that “certain women” could take part in marathons, provided they either start their race 10 minutes before or after the men or on a different starting line. The rulings—imposed so women would run a “separate but equal” race from the men—was viewed by many runners of the day, female and male alike, as just the latest act of discrimination enacted by the AAU.
, bouncing from one pile of papers to a stack of magazines and then to the two-drawer metal filing cabinet stuffed with 40 years’ worth of folders and memories. The way she hustles around the confined space, you wouldn’t know that her knees ache and that she no longer runs.
Nobile: “Long-distance running isn’t the most womanly thing a woman can do; all that sweating and grunting, so why do you do it?” Today, the woman who reporters of the era routinely called “the shapely brown-haired mother of three” and “the attractive, diminutive Nina Kuscsik from Long Island” still lives in the same ranch home on a cul-de-sac in South Huntington that she bought with her then-husband, Dick, in 1965. She raised her two sons and daughter here, mostly on her own, and has no plans of moving out anytime soon.
She didn’t see the need. For years Kuscsik had competed in dozens of cycling and skating competitions , often side by side with men. Sure, she enjoyed winning, but mostly she competed “to accomplish goals. If you could win, that was exciting, but I would always have my goals.” And not once did she get any grief for being a girl, until she had to bandit the Boston Marathon.
Besides being a masked marvel, Chiappetta was also known for collaborating with Lebow on the staging of the first New York City Marathon. The two made for an odd pairing. There was Chiappetta, the academic from the Bronx, steeped in the rules and regulations of running, a cofounder of the Road Runners Club of America, a growing influence in promoting distance running—much to the annoyance of the AAU.
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