In 1926, women were banned from competing in marathons because it was believed it caused infertility. After the Violet Percy from Great Britain who ran first official marathon, 800m was the maximum distance a woman could \”safely\” run. It wasn\’t until 1963 the next official time was recorded for a woman. Interesting fact is that Violet Percy is not the first women to run the marathon. Three years before her, Frances Hayward in 1923 finished Comrades marathon in 11 hours and 35 minutes (unofficially since women were not allowed to run this marathon).