Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption An official tried to remove Ms Switzer's number when she ran in 1967. Photo credit: Boston Herald

The first time Kathrine Switzer stood on the starting line of the Boston Marathon, it was as the lone woman in a men-only race.

The fact she dared to compete led one race official to try to rip the number 261 from her back, a few miles in.

Fifty years on, aged 70, Ms Switzer returned to the starting line wearing the same number.

This time, she was hailed for paving the way for women's distance running around the world.

Ms Switzer has now taken part in the Boston Marathon nine times in total, and has won the New York Marathon - completing a total of 40 marathons, and numerous other races, in her career.

But it is the first event in 1967 - which she entered using only her initials - which sticks in people's memories, helped by the pictures capturing the moment the official, Jock Semple, tried to remove the number and force Ms Switzer from the course.

On Monday, wearing the very same number which she had almost had torn off her jumper five decades earlier, Ms Switzer completed the race in four hours, 44 minutes and 31 seconds in her "full regalia" - "the bib plus the eye liner, mascara and lipstick".

Image copyright Hagen Hopkins Image caption Ms Switzer has now competed in 40 marathons

This time, she was far from the only woman. More than 12,300 women started the race - including members of the 261 Fearless Boston Marathon Team, an organisation Ms Switzer started to empower women following the 1967 event.

Writing on Facebook after the race, Ms Switzer said: "I finished, like I did 50 years ago. We are here to change the life of women. Just imagine what's gonna happen in 50 years!"