Barno, Hagans Reach Top of Podium with Varying Levels of Experience
(DULUTH, MINN.) — Elisha Barno had run Grandma’s Marathon several times while Lauren Hagans hadn’t run any marathons, ever. This morning, though, both were crowned as the men’s and women’s champions at the 47th annual Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth.
Already the winningest marathoner in the race’s history and just one day after being officially inducted into the Grandma’s Marathon Hall of Fame, Barno won the race for a fifth time, finishing with a time of 2:09:14. That time is Barno’s best-ever in Duluth and was just eight seconds shy of tying the event record, which was set by Dominic Ondoro in 2014.
Ondoro returned to Duluth this year as the defending champion and finished as the runner-up, trailing Barno by 45 seconds and finishing with a time of 2:09:59. This marked the first-ever Grandma’s Marathon in which two men broke the 2:10:00 mark in the same race.
Finishing the Kenyan sweep of this year’s men’s podium was Panuel Mkungo, who finished in 2:10:20 in his debut marathon.
Hagans, meanwhile, is not only new to Grandma’s Marathon but new to marathoning in general. Making her debut in the 26.2-mile distance, Hagans outdueled two-time defending champion Dakotah Lindwurm to win with a time of 2:25:55.
It’s the fourth-fastest time ever run by a woman at Grandma’s Marathon, with all four of those efforts coming since Kellyn Taylor set the still-standing event record in 2018.
Lindwurm finished more than a minute back in 2:26:56, and Gabriella Rooker finished third with a time of 2:37:38.
Steven Bugarin, meanwhile, won the non-binary division at this year’s Grandma’s Marathon, finishing with a new event record time of 2:50:29. Bugarin unseats Jake Fedorowski as the record holder after they became the first-ever non-binary champion at Grandma’s Marathon a year ago.
6,683 people (3,933 men, 2,736 women, and 10 non-binary) finished this year’s Grandma’s Marathon, which makes it the largest race since 2016.
Full results of the 2023 Grandma’s Marathon can be viewed HERE.
ABOUT GRANDMA’S MARATHON
Grandma’s Marathon began in 1977 when a group of local runners planned a scenic road race from Two Harbors to Duluth, Minnesota. After seeing just 150 participants that year, the race weekend has now grown into one of the largest in the United States and welcomes more than 20,000 participants for its three-race event each June.
The race got its name from the Duluth-based group of famous Grandma’s Restaurants, the first major sponsor of the marathon. In addition to the 26.2-mile race, the organization has now added the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon and William A. Irvin 5K to its weekend offerings.
As the popularity of Grandma’s Marathon has grown, our mission has stayed the same – to organize, promote, and deliver annual events and programs that cultivate running, educational, social, and charitable opportunities to our communities.
Grandma’s Marathon-Duluth, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization with a nine-person, full-time staff and a 17-member Board of Directors.
