DULUTH, MN (KDAL) – Kenya’s Milton Rotich won the men’s division and Dakotah Lindwurm of Minnesota was the women’s champions at the 45th annual Grandma’s Marathon on Saturday.
Rotich, who finished sixth at Grandma’s in 2017, outdueled several other runners to finish well out in front with a time of 2:13:04. CJ Albertson, who spent most of the day with Rotich in the lead pack, finished as the runner-up more than a minute off the pace in 2:14:29.
Dakotah Lindwurm became the first Minnesota woman to win Grandma’s Marathon since Janis Klecker did it in 1987. Lindwurm was the frontrunner for the entire race on Saturday, finishing in a personal record time of 2:29:04.
Runner-up Katja Goldring (2:31:30) and third-place finisher Tristin Van Ord (2:32:55) also set personal records on Saturday.
Johnboy Smith and Ivonne Reyes both captured their first-ever Grandma’s Marathon wheelchair title on Saturday, highlighting what was a smaller than usual field.
Smith, who was making his debut in Duluth, set a new personal record of 1:25:45 in his winning effort, beating runner-up Hermin Garic by nearly five full minutes.
In total, there were 2,762 finishers (1,514 men, 1,248 women) representing 38 different countries in Saturday’s 45th annual Grandma’s Marathon.
In the 31st annual Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, Mohammed Hrezi and Ann Centner were both first across the finish line and those times held up.
Without an elite field, this year’s race employed a rolling start and winners were based on chip time instead of the traditional gun time.
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