Mighty Moe: The True Story of a Thirteen-Year-Old Women's Running Revolutionary by Rachel Swaby

Mighty Moe: The True Story of a Thirteen-Year-Old Women's Running Revolutionary Reviews

• 
  Scott

  2.5 stars
  
  " . . . for every women's running revolutionary we now celebrate, there are those we've forgotten." -- the authors, on page 6
  
  Although shelved in my local library under 'biography,' Mighty Moe straddles an uneven line between the story of the young Canadian athlete Maureen 'Mighty Moe' Wilton and a lightweight historical / sociological examination on sexism in the sports world of track events. Or, to be more exact, it mostly concentrates on the five years (1964-1969) that Wilton ran long distances and marathons during her elementary- and middle-school years outside Toronto and broke records. However, Wilton often was not properly credited, and her success / skills were doubted by some in North America, just because she was a young lady. She certainly deserves some belated recognition for her accomplishments, and the book's strength came from detailing the horribly backwards way (in an unenlightened, bygone era) that women used to be viewed who competed in such events and the restrictions that also used to be in place. Still, the book often lapsed into the blandness of an overly long Wikipedia entry, and Ms. Wilton herself - who is sixty-six years old as of this writing, and living a quiet life in her native Canada - remains sort of a cypher for a 'revolutionary' subject.
• 
  Barbara

  Female athletes today would do well to read this fascinating account of the way things were for sports-minded girls and women just a few decades ago. Maureen Wilton grew up near Toronto, and she fell in love with running after seeing that her older brother received a ribbon for his efforts. Females doing anything physical that might cause them to sweat or exert themselves was frowned upon by others at that time. But Maureen had supportive parents, a coach (Sy Mah) who also wanted to nurture his daughter, Brenda's abilities, and she joined his North York Track Club. The team and the girls' parents became a family of sorts, and Maureen excelled under Mah's tutelage. She trained relentlessly, and the wins started to come as she just got better and better. What should have been a triumph when she set a women's marathon record with a time of 3:15:23 in 1967 ended in embarrassment and confusion for her since she was accused of cheating and attacked by those who didn't think girls should run. The book includes details about how she moved across the race course for various races, making it clear just how much she loved to run. But after she set the record, she lost her love for competition and running in part because of changes in her coaching and the departure of members of her track team, not to mention the dismissive, sexist attitudes of others toward her. It's heartbreaking but understandable that she would lose her motivation and her love for the sport when faced with all those obstacles, and readers can't help but wonder what might have happened had she continued to run. For several years, she packed away all her tokens from her racing life and lived a fairly pedestrian life, racing all but forgotten until John Chipman, who was making a documentary about early female racers, figured out where she was. It's clear that these authors have a keen appreciation for track and that they did their homework. It is also clear that they spent time talking to Maureen and having her relive some of these moments. Having a teaser on the back cover that asks why she stopped running insures that readers will bear in mind this question as they read the book, adding to its interest. I wish there had been a bit more development about how she returned to racing and perhaps additional thoughts from her coach and his daughter. Realizing that many of the athletic feats we take for granted now might never have been possible without those that paved the way, including Maureen, Bobbi Gibb and Kathrine Switzer, will leave readers impressed and baffled at the sexist attitudes of those times. Mighty Moe deserves this recognition and an acknowledgement of her accomplishments.
• 
  Keri Kent

  As a runner and a feminist, I loved this book, because it weaves together the story of a ground-breaking female runner (who broke the record for the marathon for women when she was just 13 years old), and a history of women's running. It's incredible how many barriers women faced, not that long ago, as they tried to run competitively. From being told that long-distance running would cause damage to their uteruses, to outright sexism, women were held back, but kept running.
  This is a quick read, and a compelling story.
• 
  Amy

  I ♥️♥️♥️ this book! Little Moe - you're inspiring. Horray for women athletes who beat the norms and prejudice.
• 
  Cduncan

  I chose to read this book when I heard a character on the Netflix series "Atypical" talk about it. I knew that there was a gender barrier in competitive sports that needed to be broken. However, I did not know more than that. Now I know about the women that not only broke that barrier but shattered it in the sport of track. I will be purchasing this book for the middle school library collection. I recommend this to anyone who likes running or stories of perseverance or history.
• 
  Benjamin Torres

  This book tells a story that unexpectedly was never told, or at least not as loud as it should have been told, at the time. It depicts how a 13 year old Canadian girl named Maureen Wilton broke the world record in the marathon in 1967.
  
  Yes, the world was very different back then, news traveled slower, running was not as big as it is now, but the main reason that this incredible accomplishment got so limited coverage and recognition is plain misogyny.
  
  The book is good inspiration for every runner, but it is specially god for young runners, because it is an eye opener for the generations of runners that now get to practice distance running without suffering of gender-discrimination (or at least not to extent of decades ago). It helps us realize that, this was possible because of the struggle of girls and women like Maureen Wilton.
• 
  Shauna Yusko

  3.5
  
• 
  Carin

  Last year I listened to a fascinating podcast about Moe Wilton that really annoyed me when it was over, it was so good. Turns out this editor also did because he reached out to the podcasters who expanded their research and storytelling into this terrific biography of Mighty Moe.
  
  In 1967, Moe was thirteen years old when she broke the world record for the women's marathon. At this time women often had to run surreptitiously (she ran alongside Kathrine Switzer) if we could run at all, for men thought our uteruses would fall out if we ran any distance.
  
  Moe just loved running. She started to keep up with her brothers and despite her height and being younger, she quickly outran them. Her parents were endlessly supportive, finding her a team and a coach and going to great lengths to get her to meets across Canada. Once her coach hired a private plane and her father raced her and other girls across town to fly directly from one meet to another across the country. Moe ran and ran and ran. It was beautiful, impressive, even intimidating. And then she ran herself out. The best runner of her generation was completely burnt out before she was twenty and quit and sport. Decades later, her own daughter asked her grandmother if her mother had ever run. Moe's mother said she'd better ask her herself. Luckily Moe's mother also had kept exhaustive scrapbooks.
  
  What an achievement! And yet for decades afterwards it was unheralded and completely forgotten. And it wasn't an easy race either--there weren't fuel stations and a band every mile. It was around a square, over and over, on a college campus, with giant older men. And yet, she outran all of them. At thirteen. I think this book would be impressive and inspiring for many kids this age showing that diligence and effort pays off. And how often do kids get to read a biography of a kid? Hey, if Moe can do it, anyone can, if they put their mind (and body!) to it.
• 
  Steve

  Rachel Swaby and Kit Fox demonstrate that history is more powerful than fiction in "Mighty Moe: The True Story of a Thirteen-Year-Old Women's Running Revolutionary." What a wonderful, fascinating, and great story. Maureen Wilton had the natural talent, commitment to training, motivating coach, and supportive family to be one of the world's greatest runners. To think of how she set the women's marathon record at age thirteen is remarkable. Swaby and Fox aptly tell how Moe came to set the world record, her commitment to running, and then the arc of her life that led her away from running. They also make clear the awful and unacceptable sexism that existed in organized running in the 1960s and 1970s, and how innovators forced the system to change. An absolutely great read. Highly recommended.
• 
  Booklover

  What a pleasure it was to read this biography of a woman I never heard of: a teenager who was the first Canadian woman to run in a marathon, when women weren't allowed to run in anything longer than 800m. While reading this, I felt so proud of her accomplishment. I also felt emotional knowing she used to train in the area of the city I grew up in, and reading about how quietly she retreated in the background, unrecognized for most of her life for wonderful accomplishment. I appreciate her so much!
• 
  Kimee

  Running has always been a part of my life, partly because it has always been a part of my mom's life. She was born in 1964. I didn't realize it until reading this book, but that was a year when women were still not allowed to officially run long distance races, e.g. the marathon, practically anywhere in the world.
  
  I loved this book because it cured my ignorance of that historical reality, told a story of an unsung hero, and, through her story, articulated so much of what I love about running and the trailblazers I have to thank for that privilege.
• 
  Iris

  Highly, highly recommend this inspiring read. it’s incredible to me being born in the 90’s that only 30 years prior even a commonplace activity such as running was kept out of the reach of women .. as a young woman it makes me marvel and be thankful for the courage of Maureen and the countless other women that have come before me, so I can enjoy the freedoms I have today without ostracism of any kind.
• 
  Hali

  Fascinating behind the scenes story of Maureen Wilton who was pretty much forgotten about, even though she was the only Canadian woman to ever run at Marathon and more surprisingly she did so at age 13. The book also does a pretty decent job at detailing the difficulties women and girls faced in the 60’s when running became a popular sport and how they were accused of cheating, physically attacked, or ridiculed for doing a “man’s” sport. Good read!
• 
  Valerie

  Yes, I knew it was a juvenile biography when I checked it out, but I also knew the basic story from a podcast I listened to awhile ago. An interesting and inspiring story about a talented young female runner and the female runners who came after her and owe their place in the sport, in part, to her. A fun read for young kids who run (and adults who like stories about kids who run). 😊
• 
  Runningrara

  This is the forgotten story of Maureen Witton, a pioneer of women's marathon running, who held the world record aged just 13 years old. A remarkable insight into the brutal, uninformed training methods, that broke her, before an uplifting return to running in her 50's. Incredible.
• 
  Amy Tran

  A great story about the incredible running achievements of Maureen Wilton as a young teenaged girl. It gave a really insightful look at the history of women in running and the progress women have made in the last 40 years.
• 
  Julia

  Great story that is really inspiring and I'm really happy to get to know about Might Moe but the storytelling didn't inspire me unfortunately so giving it a low rating as the book didn't engage me and it took me a while to read it whereas usually I'd devour these kind of books in a day.
• 
  Liv

  This book is super inspiring and very girl power vibes! I thought it was great and since i’m a slow reader it means a lot to say this only took me about 3-4 days to read. Super quick fun read, if you are planning on reading this I really hope you enjoy!
• 
  PottWab Regional Library

  SM
• 
  Rich

  Great story, just not particularly well-written or structured.
• 
  Justine

  I always love a good running story, especially about women runners. (Or, in this case, girl runners.) Happy to see this little-known gem of a story dug out of the dustbins of history.
• 
  Jenny

  I had no idea that up until the 1970s women were banned from running marathons. Here is a little girl who defied the patriarchy.
• 
  Mark

  Bought this for my oldest daughter but read it before giving it to her. Interesting story spoilt a little by some clunky writing, mainly laboured similes.
• 
  Owen

  Great book about a pioneer in women's long distance running. I listened to the audio book that was read well. I enjoyed learning about Moe and her life. Very enjoyable and inspiring.
  
  Owen
• 
  Lydia

  Fantastic biography ...so much info on the history of women and running that I didn't know. Read this out loud in the car and all enjoyed.