Record-Breaking Day! See The 2024 Grandma’s Marathon Recap + Photo Gallery

The 2024 running of Grandma's Marathon and Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon in Duluth are in the books, with a huge field of participants hitting the course on a cool, rainy day. Despite the wet conditions, it was a good race day, with multiple course records being broken. 

The threat of storms had runners and spectators waiting until a 3:00 am Saturday morning announcement on the status of the race. Officials had determined that while rain was still in the cards, the severe threat had diminished, setting the stage for this record-breaking day.

Before getting into the individual records and results, the overall event broke a record. With 7,525 finishers this year, it eclipses the previous mark for biggest Grandma's Marathon ever, which was previously set in 2016 with 7,518 finishers.

Including each of the weekend’s three races – Grandma’s Marathon, the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, and the William A. Irvin 5K – the 2024 race weekend was the largest in the organization’s history, with 17,401 total finishers across the three events.

Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon (Men's)

Tebello Ramakongoana, a native of Lesotho, broke the longest-standing event record still on the books for Grandma’s Marathon weekend. He ran a personal record time of 1:00:17 to break, by more than a minute, the event record time of 1:01:22 set by 2004 Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi.

Already qualified for the Olympics and fresh off a new personal best and national record time last year, Ramakongoana was making his debut in Duluth and using the race as a tune-up for Paris.

You can see the full results here.

Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon (Women's)

Annie Frisbie also set a new event record in the women's division, being one of two finishers this year to eclipse the previous record.

Frisbie, who calls Edina, MN home, finished with a new event record time of 1:07:33 to beat 2024 US Olympian and Minnesota Distance Elite teammate Dakotah Lindwurm by 30 seconds.

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While Lindwurm took second, her time was also better than the previous event record time of 1:09:26, which was set in 2023 by Maggie Montoya. Lindwurm's time in the event was 1:08:03, over a minute better than the previous record.

Despite finishing as the runner-up, Lindwurm said her performance was a big confidence boost as she prepares for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games.

“There’s no better weekend in Duluth,” she said. “We got some bad weather today, but the fans were out cheering in full force. I love to be here.”

You can see the full results here.

Grandma's Marathon (Men's Wheelchair)

Some perennial finishers like Aaron Pike had pulled out of this year's race due to the rainy conditions, but there was still plenty of excitement in the wheelchair field. Luis Francisco Sanclemente from Colombia won with a time of 1:22:07, a personal record.

This is Sanclemente's third podium finish, taking third place in both 2023 and 2019.

You can see the full results here.

Grandma's Marathon (Women's Wheelchair)

US Paralympians Susannah Scaroni and Jenna Fesemyer dropped out of this year’s Grandma’s Marathon wheelchair division due to forecasted rainy conditions, but the remaining competitors still made the most of the event.

Ivonne Reyes Gomez won with a time of 1:48:24, a new personal record that bested her previous best set in Duluth in 2019. Reyes Gomez becomes just the sixth woman to have multiple wheelchair titles at Grandma’s Marathon.

You can see the full results here.

Grandma's Marathon (Men's)

A familiar name for Grandma's Marathon won first place in the men's division. Elisha Barno led throughout the race, finishing with a time of 2:10:55 to earn his record-setting sixth career Grandma's Marathon win.

Barno was inducted into the Grandma’s Marathon Hall of Fame last year, before winning his record-setting fifth win on the course.

You can see the full results here.

Grandma's Marathon (Women's)

While the men's division saw a familiar face win, the women's division had a new name earn first place. Volha “Olga” Mazuronak won on her first-ever trip to Duluth, setting a new record in the process.

Mazuronak finished with a time of 2:23:52 to break the record of Kellyn Taylor from 2018.

A two-time Olympian for Belarus, she now lives in the United States and says her friend encouraged her to try Grandma’s Marathon. “She said you can come here and run fast, and I guess that’s true.”

You can see the full results here.

Here is a gallery from the finish line and along the race course, highlighting not only the elite winners, but a number of other participants from Saturday.