My sincere apologies to Carolyn Mather. The story got lost in my last few weeks of travel and health tests. Carolyn has written for RunBlogRun since 2007 and for RunningNetwork since the 1980s! She is an amazing resource and a long-time friend. Please enjoy!
Weather conditions never deter the excitement of a world-class marathon with small-town charm as Grandma’s cool rain did not prevent another magnificent Grandma’s Marathon weekend. Elisha Barno took his sixth title running 2:10:54. Two-time Olympian Volga Mazuronak from Belarus made her Duluth debut by winning the race in 2:23:52 eclipsing Kellyn Taylor’s 2018 record of 2:24:28. She ran the entire race from the front and won by an amazing six minute and 10 seconds.
On a chilly and wet Saturday, the 7,533 (7529) finishers in the marathon set a record. There were 4,383 males, 3,124 females, and 22 non-binary completing the damp and windy miles on a cloudy and very cool day where the temperature only reached 61 degrees. But the weather did little to dampen the spirits of anyone at this iconic race.
The Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon saw records fall dramatically. Tebello Ramakongoana from Lesotho, a small country in South Africa made his debut in Duluth to shatter Meb Keflezighi’s 1:01:22 set in 2013. He ran 1:00:17 and hated the cold and the rain, but his hard training helped him deal with the elements.
In addition to all of the participants, the race this year had a special focus on two-time Grandma’s marathon winner Olympian Dakotah Lindwurm. She has quickly become a favorite here since her debut in 2019 (2:34:02). Her two wins (2021 & 2022), her second place, (2023) and beaming smile have endeared her to this community. Dakotah loves the race and truly wanted to race the marathon this year. But she has a date on August 11 to race the Olympic marathon in Paris. So she had to settle for the half this year.
Dakotah’s third place finish at the 2024 Olympic marathon in Orlando last February earned her a coveted spot on Team USA. Due to her popularity and being such an incredible ambassador for Grandma’s, the staff organized activities to promote her and raise some funds to help her family go to Paris to be with her. She had a non-stop three days as she did a ticketed meet and greet Thursday evening before a shakeout run on Friday morning with several hundred runners. She then spent several hours autographing posters at the expo. She joked that her hand may recover by Paris. Her partner Montana must have taken hundreds of photos of Dakotah and her fans. She then had her own presser and did a stage appearance with legends Carrie Tollefson and Dick Beardsley. Her life since becoming an Olympian has been quite overwhelming but she is relishing every moment.
Her best friend and teammate at Minnesota Distance Elite, Annie Frisbie was in town to compete in the half. Annie is from Wisconsin and competed at Iowa State University. They are very close but both have told me when it comes to a race they are true competitors. At the presser Dakotah lightheartedly told the media that the only way she could beat Annie was if Annie had a bad day or she could trip her. But she firmly stated that they would both beat Maggie Montoya’s record of 1:09:26 set in 2023.
These two Minnesota ladies were not at all fazed by the weather as Annie stated they had trained in this kind of weather and worse this past winter. Dakotah stated that Annie was in the best shape ever and ending her racing season with this race, while she is in the middle of marathon training for that date in August.
At the start they warmed up together and were lighthearted and smiling. Annie took it out from the start and then ran scared for parts of the race as she was not sure where Dakotah was, although she heard spectators cheering for her at times. She said afterwards that the last mile was the longest of her life.
Annie shattered her personal best (2022) of 1:10:14 by obliterating the course record in an incredible 1:07:33. She had little time to celebrate before hugging Dakotah thirty seconds later (1:08:03). As Dakotah had predicted they both took down the previous record. It was amazing to witness the joy and happiness they have in each other’s success. Annie’s debut in Duluth was spectacular and she has recaptured her form after her tenth place finish at the Olympic marathon trials and a spring of successes.
Dakotah has one more trip before Paris as she goes to Eugene, Oregon for Team USA processing and uniform fitting on Monday (June 22). Then she’s going undercover to train before she leaves for Paris later in July. She plans to attend opening ceremonies before she begins her final preparations for the last event in this year’s Olympics. Focus on Dakotah and Annie in the upcoming years. They will most likely have more battles in head to head competition but they are improving talents who will only get better. They will continue to push each other.
Finally Grandma’s marathon set a final record. They had over 17,500 finishers in all of their races this past weekend. Despite early dire weather predictions, Grandma’s again proved to be the best marathon on the planet – a world-class race with small town charm where every runner is a star. Carolyn
