TheAvon International Marathon was an annual women'smarathon event that was held at various locations from 1978 to 1984. Sponsored and organised byAvon Products, a beauty and household goods company, it was the longest distance race within theAvon International Women's Running Circuit, which was created with the aim of promoting elite and grassrootsroad running for women.^[1] The circuit was headed by former runnerKathrine Switzer, whose efforts had led to the formal acceptance of women at theBoston Marathon.^[2]

TheInternational Olympic Committee required the participation of a minimum of 25 countries in international competition in order to accept new events to the Olympic schedule, thus Avon focused on attracting runners from many nations.^[3] The series was successful in its aim of establishing the marathon as a women's discipline, led by theInternational Runners' Committee,^[4] with the inaugural women's marathons at the1982 European Championships and1983 World Championship preceding thefirst women's Olympic marathon in 1984.^[5] The 1983 Avon International Marathon took place inLos Angeles, where the Olympic marathon race was hosted the following year.^[6]

Although the Avon marathon was exclusively hosted in North America and Western Europe, its international focus was a boost to elite women's running outside of these regions – theTokyo International Women's Marathon was established as the first women's race to receive sanction by theInternational Amateur Athletic Federation in 1979.^[7]

The competition was one of several initiatives forwomen's sport by Avon during the period, which also included theAvon Futures Tennis Championships.^[3]

Edition	Year	Date	Participation	Location	Winner	Time (h:m:s)
1st	1978	19 March	136, 9 nations[8]	Atlanta, United States	Marty Cooksey (USA)	2:46:26
2nd	1979	22 September	250+, 25 nations[9]	Waldniel, West Germany	Joyce Smith (GBR)	2:36:27
3rd	1980	3 August	155[10]	London, United Kingdom	Lorraine Moller (NZL)	2:35:11
4th	1981	23 August	340[11]	Ottawa, Canada	Nancy Conz (USA)	2:36:46
5th	1982	6 June	477[12]	San Francisco, United States	Lorraine Moller (NZL)	2:36:13
6th	1983	6 June	936[13]	Los Angeles, California	Julie Brown (USA)	2:26:26
7th	1984	23 September	[14]	Paris, France	Lorraine Moller (NZL)	2:32:44

Editions

• International Marathons. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
• Avon Marathon.Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved 2020-07-19.

• Women's marathons
• Recurring sporting events established in 1978
• Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1984

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata