Jeff Cadwell and Lynne Wiitala run together in Grandma’s Marathon. Jeff beat Lynne by about a minute on a great day to cover 26.2 miles on foot.
Whew! Grandma’s Marathon caught another great break.
Despite a grim weather prediction for Saturday morning, the thunder, lightning and rain did not materialize, and conditions turned out to be letter perfect for the 42nd annual running of the 26.2-mile race.
Runners received aid from a tailwind, and the weather was cool and cloudy, a tremendous day to run a long distance race.
Kellen Taylor, who hails from Arizona, shocked the women’s field by smashing the women’s record by more than 2 minutes, crossing the line in 2:24:28, and taking more than four minutes off of her PR.
Meanwhile, Elisha Barno, Kenya, captured his fourth title in style, looking smooth and running confidently as he crossed the line in 2:10:06, the third-fastest time in history.
Friday, the weather was not as cooperative.
The National Weather Service predicted a half hour storm for Duluth on Friday, June 15, at about 12:30 p.m. The storm was supposed to end well before the Grandma’s Whipper Snapper kids races were to take place at 2 p.m. Three heart pounding, flash flooding, light bulb flickering, hours later the kids’ races were a washed out memory.
Grandma’s crews were sent back outside to pick up blown over porta-potties, signs, and return to set up for the Garry Bjorklund half marathon and Grandma’s marathon races the next day. They went to bed—briefly before getting up again long before sunrise—with a knock on wood, fingers crossed, and prayers hoping the races would take place on Saturday morning.
Not to worry, once again the heavens cleared and everything worked out as planned.
Notes from Grandma’s Marathon 2018
Every year the Grandma’s Marathon office gets some interesting phone calls. This year was no exception. One lady called to say the traffic coming out of the Twin Cities was “bumper-to-bumper.” Was this the fault of the marathon? she asked angrily.
“Could be some of the traffic was because of the marathon,” I told her, “but it is largely because of road construction and lots of weekend traffic headed to cabin country in the summer.”
“So I’m supposed to put up with this traffic all summer?” she asked incredulously.
“Yep, probably going to be busy roads all summer long.”
“Well, can you tell me where the nearest Starbucks is to me?”
“Huh?”
“You know, Starbucks, the coffee shop.”
“And where are you now?” I asked.
“Stuck in traffic somewhere on the freeway going north.”
“Nope. I have no idea where the nearest Starbucks is to you,” I replied as I hurriedly hung up with phone callers waiting on hold to get answers about the race.
Twenty minutes later the same lady called back and Haley Wolf, support services director who knows everything, took the call and Googled the nearest Starbucks, getting the information to our caller who really wasn’t interested in the marathon at all.
As to the lady who called a good half dozen times asking if there wasn’t something interesting we could figure out for her sister to do from 4:45 a.m. on Saturday morning until the first finisher arrived for the half marathon, suggestions included going for a walk, reading, listening to the radio, napping, singing, snapping her fingers while singing, snapping her fingers while walking, singing while listening to the radio, singing while napping…
Turns out her sister doesn’t like going for walks, napping, reading, can’t snap her fingers and hates music. Good luck, I said, as the phones started to ring again, hoping the Starbucks caller wasn’t calling to ask for directions to the mall, or a salon, or some other silly thing.
Last, a half dozen young ladies came into the office on Friday night and were discussing where they were going to go for the evening.
Running didn’t seem to be much on their minds.
Linda Hanson, finance & operations director was walking by and said she had just spoken to Mark McGrath, lead singer for SugarRay, and he had told her the band was headed for a nearby pub after the band finished playing. Upon hearing that priceless bit of good news it was as if the room had filled with golden sunshine and Silver Star dust. As if on cue they all chorused the bar’s name, laughing as they headed down the steps and out of the door.
The races
All told there were 8,231 entrants in the marathon and 9,280 entrants in Garry Bjorklund half marathon.
Some 6,107 runners completed (3,334 men and 2,773 women) the marathon. The average finishing time was 4:18:28.
The half marathon men’s champion was Panuel Mkungo of Kenya who ran 1:02:50. Monicah Ngige, Kenya, placed first in the women’s field with the second fastest time ever, 1:09:55.
There were 7,582 runners (2868 men, 4,714 women) who completed the 13.1-mile race. The average finishing time for a male runner was 2:03:02 while the average finishing time for a woman runner was 2:20:17.
Local Grandma’s Marathon finishers
Karl Olson, 39, Grand Marais, 4:07:24 to finish 2812.
Jeff Cadwell, 51, Grand Marais, finished in 4:56:36 to place 4775.
Joel Fors, age 60, Tofte, ran 5:28:47 to finish 5416 place.
Jan Horak, 70, Tofte, walked the race in 6:46:41.
Lynne Wiitala, 57, Tofte, crossed the line in 4:57:44 and placed 4821.
Jen Ross, 33, Grand Portage, finished the race in 4:36:12, placing 4,023, averaging 10:33 per mile.
Jamie Kerr, 39, former Grand Marais resident, ran her first full marathon in 4:23:08. Jamie, who now lives in Aurora, Colorado, averaged 10:03 per mile. She placed 3,502 overall and placed 1,315 out of 2,773 female finishers.
Garry Bjorklund half marathon
Molly Hicken, 39, Lutsen, finished the race in 2:08:40, averaging 9:50-mile pace to finish 3569 out of 7579 runners.
Four runners from Grand Portage competed in the half marathon. Christina Brassard, 45, ran 2:10:38, a 9:59-mile pace, to place 3,800.
Jennifer Spry, 38, finished in 2,928 place with a time of 2:03:24, averaging 9:26 per mile.
Paul Spry, 43, placed 6216 with a time of 2:38:27. Paul averaged 12:06 per mile.
Trent Spry, 16, hit the finish line in 1:58:01 to place 2,293. Trent, the son of Jennifer and Paul, averaged 9:01 per mile.
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