Barno, Hagans Reach Top of Podium with Varying Levels of Experience
(DULUTH, MINN.) --- Elisha Barno had run Grandma’s Marathon several times while Lauren Hagans hadn’t run any marathons, ever. This morning, though, both were crowned as the men’s and women’s champions at the 47th annual Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth.
Already the winningest marathoner in the race’s history and just one day after being officially inducted into the Grandma’s Marathon Hall of Fame, Barno won the race for a fifth time, finishing with a time of 2:09:14. That time is Barno’s best-ever in Duluth and was just eight seconds shy of tying the event record, which was set by Dominic Ondoro in 2014.
Ondoro returned to Duluth this year as the defending champion and finished as the runner-up, trailing Barno by 45 seconds and finishing with a time of 2:09:59. This marked the first-ever Grandma’s Marathon in which two men broke the 2:10:00 mark in the same race.
Finishing the Kenyan sweep of this year’s men’s podium was Panuel Mkungo, who finished in 2:10:20 in his debut marathon.
Hagans, meanwhile, is not only new to Grandma’s Marathon but new to marathoning in general. Making her debut in the 26.2-mile distance, Hagans outdueled two-time defending champion Dakotah Lindwurm to win with a time of 2:25:55.
It’s the fourth-fastest time ever run by a woman at Grandma’s Marathon, with all four of those efforts coming since Kellyn Taylor set the still-standing event record in 2018.
Lindwurm finished more than a minute back in 2:26:56, and Gabriella Rooker finished third with a time of 2:37:38.
Steven Bugarin, meanwhile, won the non-binary division at this year’s Grandma’s Marathon, finishing with a new event record time of 2:50:29. Bugarin unseats Jake Fedorowski as the record holder after they became the first-ever non-binary champion at Grandma’s Marathon a year ago.
6,683 people (3,933 men, 2,736 women, and 10 non-binary) finished this year’s Grandma’s Marathon, which makes it the largest race since 2016.
Full results of the 2023 Grandma’s Marathon can be viewed on MTECResults.com.
Montoya Breaks Goucher’s Record, Reichow Bests Own PR To Win 33Rd Annual Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon
Near-Record Number of Finishers on Picture-Perfect Duluth Day
(DULUTH, MINN.) --- Kara Goucher was adamant this week that her record in the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon was going to fall this year. Turns out, she knows something about running. On her first-ever trip to Duluth, Maggie Montoya ousted the hometown hero Goucher and etched her own name in the event’s record books.
Montoya won on Saturday with a time of 1:09:26, which was 20 seconds better than Goucher’s mark set in 2012 during the US Half Marathon Championships. She becomes now the seventh woman to hold the record at one point, dethroning Goucher after she had held the crown for more than a decade.
Jaci Smith finished more than two minutes off Montoya’s pace as the runner-up with a time of 1:11:27, while Allie Schaich finished third with a time of 1:12:57.
Joel Reichow, meanwhile, won the men’s race after finishing 10th here a year ago. His time of 1:02:30 marks a new personal best and the eighth-fastest men’s finish in Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon history.
Reichow needed nearly every bit after outdueling runner-up Afewerki Zeru by just 10 seconds in the end, and Habtamu Cheney also wasn’t far back, finishing in third place with a time of 1:03:49.
Jonah Grant, meanwhile, is the non-binary champion after finishing with an event record time of 1:12:59. Grant unseats Sarah Stuhr, who last year had become the first non-binary champion in the event’s history.
7,483 people (3,016 men, 4,445 women, and eight non-binary) finished this year’s Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, which was just over 400 shy of the all-time record set in 2016.
Full results of the 2023 Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon can be viewed on MTECResults.com.
A Tale Old And New For 47th Annual Grandma’s Marathon Wheelchair Champions
Pike Defends Title as Fesemyer Reaches Top of Podium for First Time
(DULUTH, MINN.) --- Aaron Pike has become somewhat used to being on top of the podium at Grandma’s Marathon, while it was a new feeling entirely for Jenna Fesemyer as those two were crowned men’s and women’s wheelchair champions on Saturday.
Pike won the race for the second straight year and for the fifth time since 2017, finishing with a time of 1:27:34 that was significantly off the event record pace of 1:20:02 he ran in Duluth a year ago.
Still, Pike was more than minute ahead of runner-up Fernando Sanchez Nava, who finished in 1:28:54 and third place finisher Luis Francisco Sanclemente, who finished in 1:29:30.
Fesemyer, meanwhile, got a taste of the podium last year as she finished second, but this year was much sweeter as she won for the first time in Duluth with a time of 1:47:20.
Also significantly off her 2022 pace was Fesemyer, who ran 1:33:50 here a year ago in finishing second to eventual champion Susannah Scaroni.
Michelle Wheeler finished as the runner-up with a time of 1:52:03, and she was closely followed by this year’s third place finisher and 2021 champion Ivonne Reyes Gomez.
In all, 25 wheelchair athletes (21 men, four women), finished the 2023 Grandma’s Marathon.
Full results of the 2023 Grandma’s Marathon wheelchair division can be viewed ON MTECResults.com.
For any questions or interview requests, please contact Marketing & Public Relations Director Zach Schneider via phone at (218) 343-9874 or via email at zach@grandmasmarathon.com.
ABOUT GRANDMA’S MARATHON
Grandma’s Marathon began in 1977 when a group of local runners planned a scenic road race from Two Harbors to Duluth, Minnesota. There were just 150 participants that year, but organizers knew they had discovered something special. Grandma’s Marathon weekend draws approximately 20,000 participants for its three-race event each June.
The race got its name from the Duluth-based group of famous Grandma’s Restaurants, the first major sponsor of the Marathon. Over time, the level of sponsorship with the restaurants changed, but the name stayed the same. Grandma’s Marathon-Duluth, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization with a 17-member Board of Directors and a nine-person, full-time staff.
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