Kathrine Switzer named as official starter of London Marathon

Women's running pioneer Kathrine Switzer has been named as the official starter of the London Marathon this weekend.

The 71-year-old will start the Elite Women's race and the World Para Athletics Marathon World Cup before going on to join the 40,000 runners in her first London Marathon.

Switzer challenged the all-male tradition of marathon running when she became the first woman ever to race the Boston Marathon in 1967.

At the time women were barred from running marathons and Switzer, who entered using just her initials, became known worldwide when a race official tried and failed to forcibly remove her.

Switzer finished the race and proved to the world that women could run the 26.2-mile distance. She then went on to win the 1974 New York City Marathon.

She will wear the 261 number while running the London Marathon. It was the number Switzer wore at the 1967 Boston Marathon and has become synonymous with women's equality in sport.

Switzer has been a campaigner and advocate for women's distance running since her barrier-breaking run.

She has organised a global series of 400 women's races in 27 countries, was instrumental in getting the women's marathon added to the programme of the Olympic Games in 1984, and created a global non-profit movement called '261 Fearless' that empowers women through running.

The elite women's race this weekend will be the first ever to include two women who have run quicker than 2 hours 18 minutes, while four in the line-up have broken the 2:20 barrier and seven have finished inside 2:22.

Among them will be the defending champion, Mary Keitany, who's aiming to break Paula Radcliffe's outright world record of 2:15:25, and Ethiopia's triple Olympic track champion, Tirunesh Dibaba.