The first ever female winner in the Dallas Marathon will be returning to participate its the 50th anniversary according to a Dallas Morning News article from December 7 which reports, 

 

“Corboy was one of 82 participants in the first Dallas Marathon, then called the White Rock Marathon, on March 6, 1971. And she crossed the finish line that day with a time of 4:12:25, becoming the first woman winner of the event.

 

More than 50 years after winning the first Dallas Marathon, Corboy will be participating in the festivities once again this Sunday. The 74-year-old will be participating in the half-marathon at the 50th running of the Dallas Marathon.

 

Corboy wasn’t planning on running at the marathon this year until she realized it was the 50th running of the event. The symmetry of saying she ran at an event at the first marathon and at the 50th is exciting.

 

“In spite of the fact that I insist that I’m an average runner, I have spent a lot of hours of my life running,” Corboy said. “It is something that means a lot to me. To be able to kind of look back and say, yeah, I’ve done this for 50 years, it’s something I am proud of.”

 

Corboy recalled her first Dallas Marathon where she overcame the odds and defied the stigma, becoming both an icon and a symbol according to a CBS DFW article from December 7. In it they say,

 

“I ran the first White Rock marathon, now the Dallas Marathon, in 1971,” said Corboy. “I was the first woman finisher, and I was actually the only woman finisher that year.”

 

Corboy was a member of the Dallas Cross Country Club at the time, which planned the first marathon. The group’s coach convinced her to go on a 16-mile run a few weeks before the event, which was the farthest distance she had done up until that point.

 

“And he said, ‘You know, what’s 10 more miles? You can do that,’” she said.

So Corboy did, surrounded by men.

 

“If they gave me dirty looks, it was behind my back,” Corboy said.”

 

Ever since the historical moment, she relaxed and participated in other races and marathons where she finished as a winner in age-groups.