Amelia Gapin has made history in the sporting world as she becomes the first transgender woman to appear on the cover of Women's Running.

The marathoner, from New Jersey, who was born a boy, poses in her athletics wear on the July issue of the US running magazine for women.

The 33-year-old software engineer is the latest of diverse models to grace the front of the popular fitness publications that is sold across America.

Scroll down for video

Amelia Gapin has made LGBTQ history by becoming the first transgender woman to grace the cover of Women's Running

Amelia has already made a name for herself in the fitness world as she is a seven-time marathon finisher and has completed more than 20 races in total.

The software engineer also co-founded MyTransHealth, a service that helps transgender people access healthcare.

Amelia, who completed her gender reassignment surgery 16 weeks ago, says that her love of running helped her overcome her inner demons.

She told the magazine: 'Running helped me get through the mental and emotional struggles I went through while I was transitioning.'She added that by appearing on such a widely consumed publication she hopes to increase invisibility and acceptance of the transgender community.

Amelia, who is 16 weeks post reassignment surgery, says that her love of running helped her overcome some of her inner demons

Amelia has already made a name for herself in the fitness world as she is a seven-time marathon finisher and has completed more than 20 races in total.

The news of her cover happened to come at the same time as the harrowing reports of the murder of 49 people in an Orlando gay club, which originally shook Amelia

She added: 'For me to be on the cover of a women's magazine is kind of a sense of validation that other people are seeing transgender women as women.

'Being a transgender woman on the cover of a magazine dedicated to women shows I’m being seen for who I am,’ says Amelia. ‘It’s a feeling of acceptance, inclusivity, and being welcomed.'

She ultimately went through with the surgery because she wants to qualify for the Boston Marathon as a woman and couldn't do it without the surgery which gave her female genitalia.

Editor-in-Chief, Jessica Sebor told People, 'It’s important for Women’s Running to show that there is not one definition of what a runner’s body should be.

'We are so grateful to Amelia for gracing the cover of our Body Issue. She is brave, beautiful and wholly herself.'

Amelia's cover announcement happened to time in with the harrowing news of the shootings in Orlando where 49 people were killed by gunman Omar Mateen in gay club Pulse.

Initially the cover star expressed fears over her appearance in the magazine, expressing concerns for her own safety on Twitter.

But the marathon runner says tweeted to say that she hoped that her cover could bring some positivity to the shaken community

She wrote: 'I almost said no for sake of my personal safety. Now I feel like I should have. Anti-LGBTQ hate in this country is terrifying.'

However, she later tweeted to say that she hoped her appearance could help bring some positivity for the trans community following the travesty.

Amelia wrote: 'It's weird timing for this but I hope it can be some positivity for trans people today.

'Trans people can be anything we want to be and we should not be forced to live out loves in secret or love in fear. I refuse to.'

Amelia is the latest in a host of diverse models to appear on the cover of the magazine. In March this year 27-year-old Nadia Aboulhosn became the second plus size woman to appear in the publication

Amelia isn't the first woman of diversity to appear on the cover of the fitness publication with Women's Running previously praised for their representation of plus size women.

In March this year they featured their second plus size cover star in the form of 27-year-old Nadia Aboulhosn.

Wearing an Adidas outfit and Nike sneakers, the Los Angeles-based Lebanese-American fashion blogger runs next to a cover line that reads: 'The best reason to be body positive: Science says self-love makes you run faster.'

Nadia followed in the footsteps of Erica Schenk, who scored the honor of being the first plus-size model to cover Women's Running for the magazine's August issue last year.

Erica had also been shooting a few photos to run in the magazine with the editor-in-chief decided to bump her up to the cover instead.

In August last year Erica Schenk, scored the honor of being the first plus-size model to cover Women's Running for the magazine'