ABSTRACT
A wider 'ripple effect' of increasing numbers of women running alongside men to test themselves against the distance has been one of the biggest changes in worldwide sporting culture. Women's sport, even when reported by conservative media entities like Sky, has become defined by a vague advocacy in terms of seeing participation as a blend of liberation; health and self-discipline. The personal challenge for each individual also speaks to the wider problematic nature of women's involvement. The use of the BBC Sports Personality ratings from 1954 until the present day is one key marker of how the media has helped to note, memorialize and in some ways institutionalize female sporting performance in Britain. The small size of the Scotland and international media markets meant that both women left for a time to pursue more specialized training regimes and lucrative markets for their sporting talent. Understanding broader sporting traditions necessarily entails an appreciation of the emergence of assertive female physicality.
