Grandma's Marathon (Grandma's) is an annual road race held each June in Duluth, Minnesota, in the United States. The course runs point-to-point from the city of Two Harbors on Scenic Route 61 and continues along Lake Superior into the city of Duluth. The finish is located in Canal Park, near Grandma's Restaurant, which is next to the highly visible Aerial Lift Bridge.
Kara Goucher is an American long-distance runner, author, television commentator, and podcaster. She was the 10,000 meters silver medalist at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and represented the USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics. She made her marathon debut in 2008 and finished third the following year at the Boston Marathon.
Garry Brian Bjorklund is an American middle- and long-distance runner. He represented the United States in the 1976 Summer Olympics in the 10,000 meters. As a high schooler, he set a Minnesota state record for the mile run which lasted 39 years. At the University of Minnesota, he won the 1971 national championship in the six-mile run, and won numerous conference championships in various disciplines. Following his 1976 Summer Olympics appearance, Bjorklund became a marathon runner, and set a national age group record in 1980.
Nicholas Arciniaga is an American long-distance runner who competed at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and finished 7th at the 2014 Boston Marathon.
Kellyn Taylor is an American long distance runner.
Ariana Kira Hilborn is a US-born Latvian long-distance runner. She was born on 19 September 1980 in Greendale, Wisconsin, United States. All of her four grandparents were Latvians, who left Latvia at the end of World War II as refugees, and later emigrated to the U.S. In 2014 Ariana Hilborn gained dual US-Latvian citizenship.
Julia Kohnen Griffey is an American professional marathon runner who trained with HOKA's NAZ Elite team from 2020 to 2022.
Janice Ettle is an American middle-distance and long-distance runner, winner of major marathons and top finisher in dozens of road races, as well as a competitor at the 1987 World Marathon Cup and fourth-place finisher at the Havana, Cuba, 1991 Pan American Games women's marathon. Ettle was a five-time competitor at the US Olympic Marathon Trials.
Nell Rojas is an American triathlete, long-distance runner, coach, business owner, and winner of the 2019 Grandma's Marathon. She also competed at the 2020 USA Olympic Marathon Trials and finished in 9th place.
Rory Linkletter is a Canadian long-distance runner. He represented Canada in the marathon at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. He holds a personal best of 2:08:01 set at the 2024 Seville Marathon making him the second fastest Canadian of all time over the distance. He formerly held the Canadian half marathon record from January to October 2022 set at the 2022 Houston Half Marathon.
Christopher Kipyego is a runner from Kenya who has won multiple major marathon races, including the Mexico City Marathon in 2006 with a time of 2:17:23.
Sarah Kiptoo Cheriwoi is a Kenyan-born long-distance runner who is the winner of the 2014 Casablanca International Marathon as well as the 2013 and 2016 Grandma's Marathon, the 2017 Philadelphia Marathon and several other American road races.
Pasca Jerono is a Kenyan-born American middle- and long-distance runner best known for winning the 2014 Grandma's Marathon in 2:33:45.
Everlyne Lagat is a retired long-distance runner with multiple marathon wins. Lagat has nine siblings, all of which ran competitively in some fashion, including her brother, Olympian Bernard Lagat.
Dakotah Marie Lindwurm is an American professional long-distance runner sponsored by Puma who qualified to represent the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. Lindwurm gained notoriety after winning back-to-back victories at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota in 2021 and 2022. Her victory in 2022 made her the 12th fastest U.S. women's marathoner of all time.
Driss Dacha is a retired Moroccan long-distance runner who won several marathons and was named to the 1989 World Marathon Cup team for his country. He was the runner-up at the 1993 Berlin Marathon.
Mary Adah Akor Beasley is a Nigerian–American athlete who competed for the US at the 2005 and 2007 World Marathon Championships. In 2006, she was ranked the seventh fastest U.S. woman marathoner of the year; in 2007, the sixth. She runs multifarious marathons around the United States, Mexico and Africa. After running the Gobernador Marathon in Mexicali, Mexico, in December 2012, she was found to be using a banned substance. She accepted her sanction and returned to competition in 2015.
Tiffani McReynolds is an American hurdler. She is a three-time runner-up at the NCAA Division I Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships, on one occasion missing the title by 0.007 seconds, and she is a two-time USA Indoor Track and Field Championships top-three finisher.
Molly Bookmyer is an American long-distance runner and brain cancer survivor. She has twice qualified for the US Olympic marathon trials.
Gabriella Rooker is an American long-distance runner. She has qualified for the 2024 US Olympic marathon trials. In 2024, she was inducted into the University of Wisconsin La Crosse wall of fame.
United States