Locals survive heat of 2009 Grandma’s Marathon

The 33rd running of Grandma’s Marathon Saturday, June 20, 2009 was a hot, humid one with a heat index so high that the event’s medical director almost called it off. Of the 14 Cook County residents registered for the 26.2-mile race that runs along the lake from Two Harbors to Duluth, five finished.

Finishing in the top 12% of his age group (24th out of 207) was Chris Hegg, 57, of Grand Marais with a chip time of 3:56:34. John Wytanis, 54, of Tofte finished in 4:01:11 (chip time), in the top 20% of his age group (67th out of 334).

Grandma’s registrations never filled to the 9,500 cutoff, and only 5,944 of the 8,377 runners registered for the race finished – 3,681 men and 2,263 women – with an average time of 4:43:21.

Christopher Raabe, age 30, won the marathon in a time of 2:15:13, the first American-born winner since 1995 and the first native Minnesota since 1982. The top women’s finisher was 34-year-old Mary Akor with a time of 2:36:52. Akor, a U.S. citizen and California resident, is a native of Nigeria and won the race for the third time in a row.

Complete Cook County marathon results are listed on the right.

Eleven of the 16 Cook County residents registered for the Garry Bjorklund Half-Marathon finished the race. Thatevent, which started one hour earlier (and one hour cooler) than the marathon, ended with 5,613 finishers – 2,410 men and 3,203 women – with an average time of 2:15:53.

Kelly Fulton, 27, of Grand Marais finished in the top 3% of his age group (35th in a field of 1,033), with a time of 1:18:48. He came in 49th overall in the race with a 6:01 mile pace. Ann Heimbach, 41, of Grand Marais finished in the top 11% of her age group (36th in a field of 321), with a time of 1:56:39.

Complete Cook County halfmarathon results are listed below.

Jerry Anderson, 75, of Grand Marais was the only Cook County resident to finish the William K. Irvin 5K on Friday, June 19. He was one of only six runners in his age group out of a field of 1,285, finishing with a time of 47:56.

Local results for 2009 Grandma’s Marathon

Local results for 2009 Grandma’s 1/2 Marathon