Sister Cleophas Costello Lecture

Loyola University Maryland welcomes Kara Goucher, New York Times bestselling author of The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike's Elite Running Team, an unvarnished and affecting memoir detailing a culture of corporate abuse and misogyny, for the 33rd Sister Cleophas Costello Lecture on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024.   

The 2024 lecture is free and open to the Loyola community, Mount Saint Agnes College alumnae, and the public. Advanced registration is encouraged.  

The Mount Saint Agnes College Alumnae Association, Loyola's School of Education, and the Loyola Alumni Association host the annual Sister Cleophas Costello Lecture—a lecture series featuring prominent women—in honor of the late Sister Mary Cleophas Costello.

2024 Lecture: An Evening with Kara Goucher   

Author of The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike's Elite Running Team

Kara Goucher is a three-time NCAA champion, two-time Olympian, and podium finisher at the Boston and New York Marathons. Her book, The Longest Race, contains many stunning revelations and explores the challenges elite female athletes face as they navigate a complex sports industry, including pay inequity, verbal and sexual abuse, misrepresentation in the media, and pressure to use performance-enhancing substances. Women's Running states that "her transparency about so much of her career is what elevates this memoir as perhaps the most important contribution she'll ever make to women's sports."

Goucher's second book, The Longest Race, was published in March of 2023 and has been lauded as "one of the most important athlete memoirs of its generation" by #1 New York Times bestselling author Kate Fagan. Since retiring from professional running, Kara Goucher has served as an announcer at many races including the 2024 Paris Olympics, runs two podcasts, and has become a crusader for female athletes. She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband, fellow runner Adam Goucher, and their son.