On Saturday, June 3, 100 different women each ran one mile at an average pace of 5:35 to set a new 100x1 mile relay world record. Runners lined up on the track at San Francisco State’s Cox Stadium to cheer on the final runner, Peggy Lavelle, as she ran a 7:48 mile to close the race in an unofficial overall time of 9:18:32. The group beat the previous record of 9:23:39, set by the Canadian Women’s Milers Club in 1999, by over five minutes.
Jeanie Kayser-Jones, who ran the lead-off leg in San Francisco’s first 100x1 mile relay in 1977, kicked off the race by ceremonially handing the baton to Vanessa Fraser, a professional runner for the Nike Bowerman Track Club. Fraser ran the first leg in a time of 4:58. She then passed the baton to JoJo Gregg, the youngest racer at just 13 years old, who ran a 5:46 mile.
In addition to a record-breaking time, the relay featured a diverse array of women and a 50-year age difference, with 63-year-old Nancy Simmons splitting a time of 6:05 as the oldest runner. Racers ranged from Olympic Trials qualifiers to those who had never raced a mile on the track before. Many of the runners were mothers, and the race also included pregnant and postpartum women. Sarah Swanger, who was five months pregnant Upper Body Cardio.
“As a mother of two boys,” Swanger said, holding her first son and gesturing to her stomach, “it means a lot for me to show them what a woman is and what a woman can do.”
Gillian Meeks, a Ph.D. student at UC Davis and a Harvard University cross country and track alumna, ran the fastest split of the day in 4:53.
Shawn Sax, the organizer of the event, said his goal was not to set an unattainable record, but to break the record while being as inclusive as possible. “I know some cities, like Houston or Atlanta, will think they’re faster than San Francisco,” he said. “Let them try, and if they break our record, we’ll be back out here.”
But as to whether they can break it with the same level of diversity, “I don’t think any other city is going to be able to do that,” he said.
All the women in the relay had a connection to San Francisco. The relay has a storied history in the city: After the first in 1977, two more attempts were held in 1995 and 1997.
With this race, Lavelle has now been on all four of these relays. Now 62, she ran the 1977 relay when she was just 16 years old. She started in the sport at a time when it was unusual to see women running and would often run carrying a tennis racket to avoid harassment.
“I hope these girls will remember this because it was such a pro-women event,” Lavelle said. “The number of women that can run 5:30ish and under is incredible. In my day, you just didn't have that. People used to howl out the window at me for running and now it’s totally acceptable.”
To qualify as a Guinness World Record, organizers needed to survey the track, which was widened with cones around the 200-meter turn to make each lap a quarter of a mile (most tracks in the U.S. are 400 meters, which leaves the runner nine meters short at the mile). They also needed two cameras videoing the entire race continuously and two manual timekeepers in addition to the electronic timing system. Pacers were not allowed. The results will now need to be verified by Guinness World Records, which can take three months.
The relay was co-hosted by the Nike San Francisco Women’s Miler Club and several San Francisco-based running groups, including San Francisco Road Runners, Dolphin South End Runners, Impala Racing Team, Pamakid Runners, and Olympic Club Foundation. The event raised over $5,000 for Girls on the Run of the Bay Area.
Margie Cullen ran D1 cross country and track and field for Georgetown University and U.C. Berkeley. She was the 2018 Big East Conference steeplechase champion. Post-collegiately, she continues to race but has left her hurdling days behind. Cullen has a master’s degree in journalism from the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and is currently a reporting fellow at USA TODAY.
