In 1986, Ilse Dippmann was introduced to running and began to run herself. She set the goal of participating in the New York Marathon and completed it that same year. Motivated by an ad for the “New York MINI,” the world’s first women’s race, Ilse Dippmann decided to bring this idea to Austria. In 1988, with 440 participants, the first Austrian Women’s Run kicked off in Laxenburg Palace Park under the motto “By women for women.” Years passed and the Austrian Women´s Run counted more and more runners, but that wasn´t enough.  

In 1997 Ilse came up with a brilliant idea, following her pursuit of motivating as many girls and women to run as possible. She founded the first women´s running training in Prater, Vienna. Since then, the trainings expanded year by year & today women can train on 62 locations in Austria, Germany and Slovakia with more than 150 coaches all year long for free for the ASICS Austrian Women´s Run. Weekly 2,500 women come to take advantage of these trainings.  

Thirty years later, 35,000 women and girls from over 90 nations took part in the Austrian Women’s Run. The ASICS Austrian Women’s Run is one of the most important running events for women worldwide. 

Year after year, more and more girls and women get excited about running. The event has been successfully expanded into a running event that unites participants of all ages and athletic abilities from over 90 nations in its starting field. In addition to enthusiastic amateur runners, national and international top athletes are at the start every year. The passion for running and shared strength are the focus, and that is the connecting element for our runners. Today, the ASICS Austrian Women’s Run is one of the leading women’s races worldwide and is an indispensable, driving, creative, and innovative force in the domestic and international running scene. In 2025 28,954 women stood on the starting line of 37^th ASICS Austrian Women´s Run – all united by the motto “´cause I can” each running & participating for her very own reason and pursuit.  

In case you want to personally witness one of the biggest women´s runs world wide you are more than welcome on 31^st of May 2026 in Vienna!  

Jackie Joyner-Kersee is celebrated as one of the greatest athletes in history—a six-time Olympic medalist whose career redefined excellence in women’s track and field. Across four consecutive Olympic Games (1984–1996), she captured three gold, one silver, and two bronze medals, dominating the heptathlon and long jump. Her heptathlon world record of 7,291 points, set in 1988, still stands today. She also earned four World Championship medals, solidifying her status as a trailblazer for women in sports. 

Her accomplishments extend far beyond her historic athletic career. Joyner-Kersee earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and has been awarded 11 honorary doctorate degrees from esteemed institutions in recognition of her outstanding contributions to athletics, education, and community service. She is also the recipient of numerous prestigious honors, reflecting her enduring impact as both a global sports icon and a dedicated humanitarian. 

In 1988, she founded the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation in her hometown of East St. Louis, Illinois, to provide youth, adults, and families with transformative educational, athletic, leadership, and health programs. Under her leadership, the Foundation operates from the 41,000-square-foot Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center on a 100-acre campus—home to the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Academy (serving K–5 students) and soon the JJK Food Agriculture and Nutrition Innovation Center, opening fall 2025. The Foundation serves over 10,000 individuals annually and distributes more than 50,000 meals each year. 

Its flagship initiative, the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Winning in Life® Program, instills values of responsibility, resilience and respect while providing STEAM education, literacy support, athletics, workforce readiness and life skills training. Over 25 years, these efforts have impacted youth and families empowering generations to rise above challenges and pursue excellence.

Nina Kuscsik was one of the most committed leaders of women’s official inclusion in distance running. She herself was a superb athlete in bicycling, roller skating, and speed skating. She didn’t run seriously until her late 20s, and by that time she was the mother of three and had a demanding job as a registered nurse. She joined several other women, notably Sara Mae Berman and Kathrine Switzer, both of whom had already struck a blow for women’s running rights by running the Boston Marathon before women were ‘allowed’ to participate.  

When Nina became a committed runner, she made friends in the New York running community who supported and advised her in the campaign to win official recognition for women in running. The three women worked together. Uncomfortable with media exposure or publicity, Kusick preferred to work through official channels. In 1971, she attended the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) convention and put forward motions that raised the permitted top distance for women’s races to 10 miles, as well as gaining conditional approval (extraordinary though it sounds now) for “certain women” to enter marathons. Kusick attended endless committee meetings and worked on legislative change.  

Her patience was prodigious and how she managed to be a single mom of three children, hold down a full-time job, and train for the marathon is testimony to determination and endurance.   

When the Boston Marathon admitted women officially for the first time in 1972, Nina appropriately won the title against the eight other women who ran and could meet the men’s qualifying time of 3:30. That same year, Kuscsik and Switzer were a key part of the organization of the Crazylegs Mini Marathon (10k), the first open women’s only footrace. This was the beginning of the women’s running revolution, as women felt ‘safe’ in a women’s only environment, and this led them into all kinds of coed races. Now in the USA, Canada, Mexico and several other countries, 52% of all participating runners are women. Nina Kusick passed away on June 8, 2025, at age 86. Her contribution to women’s running is beyond measure. 

Dr. Stacy T. Sims is a prominent exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist known for her groundbreaking research on female physiology and performance, challenging the “women are not small men” paradigm in sports science. After a prolific career directing research at institutions like Stanford, Auckland University of Technology, and the University of Waikato with over 100 peer-reviewed publications, she authored the influential books Roar and Next Level, providing physiology-based strategies for women across all life stages. Sims is also a sought-after speaker and advocate for a science-backed, sex-specific approach to training, nutrition, and health for women, holding a PhD from the University of Otago and continuing to advance female athlete health worldwide. 

 
Currently, she holds a senior research associate position with SPRINZ-AUT University, an adjunct position with the Stanford Lifestyle Medicine Group, supervises PhD students, writes academic papers, and is on the advisory board of several cutting-edge companies. 
 
Additionally, on her site, drstacysims.com, she has created and delivers online learning material focused on women training with their physiology across the lifespan. 

Mahsa Torabi spent her childhood in a city in Iran where the forest, mountains, and sea came together in perfect harmony. From an early age, her father taught her how to ride a bicycle, and gradually, she found her way into the world of mountaineering. 

When she was in third grade, she watched the Marco Polo series, and his journeys along the Silk Road and his adventures sparked a flame within her -a passion for travel and discovering the world. 

Mahsa’s father always encouraged her: “If you focus on your studies, you will shape your own path in life and I will always support you.” Those words became a guiding light for her. After completing her undergraduate and graduate studies in Tehran, Mahsa entered the professional world. But she was never one to settle into routine; her mind constantly yearned for movement, travel, and new experiences. 

She turned to sports and began professional mountaineering. She became a certified coach and successfully climbed many of Iran’s highest peaks. As a guide, Mahsa led international groups to the summits of Mount Damavand and Mount Sabalan, gaining unforgettable experiences along the way. 

In 2006, Mahsa bought her first bicycle. In a city where women were not allowed to ride, she pedaled forward with courage. That moment marked the beginning of her real journeys. Soon after, she began organizing road trips—small and large—with groups of women, and cycled a stretch of the Silk Road within Iran. It’s her dream to one day continue that journey beyond borders. 

In 2016, Mahsa learned that Iran’s first international marathon was being held at Persepolis, but women were not permitted to participate. After unsuccessful efforts to change the rules, she made the decision to run anyway, representing all women who had been excluded. And she ran. 

That experience—an act of courage, persistence, and following her dreams became a turning point, inspiring the path she would continue to walk. 

Mahsa went on to not only participate in, but to plan races like the ultramarathon in Iran in 2017, a 250 km stages race, the first of it’s kind across the Lut desert, bringing together men and women from both inside and outside Iran for the first coed sporting event since 1979. She became involved with charities that sought to empower girls and women through running, including Omid Foundation, a charity in Iran that catered to runaways and abused girl and refugees; as well as Free to Run in Afghanistan. While no longer involved with these charities, Mahsa continues her efforts independently to help Iranian and Afghan women find joy and empowerment in running.