Dakotah Lindwurm builds to the Paris Olympic Marathon with a stop at the Grandmas Half Marathon & Marathon, by Carolyn Mather

My sincere apologies to Carolyn Mather. The story got lost in my last few weeks of travel and health tests.  Carolyn has written for RunBlogRun since 2007 and for RunningNetwork since the 1980s! She is an amazing resource and a long-time friend. Please enjoy! 

Weather conditions never deter the excitement of a world-class marathon with small-town charm as Grandma’s cool rain did not prevent another magnificent Grandma’s Marathon weekend. Elisha Barno took his sixth title running 2:10:54. Two-time Olympian Volga Mazuronak from Belarus made her Duluth debut by winning the race in 2:23:52 eclipsing Kellyn Taylor’s 2018 record of 2:24:28. She ran the entire race from the front and won by an amazing six minute and 10 seconds.

On a chilly and wet Saturday, the 7,533 ( 7529) finishers in the marathon set a record. There were 4,383 males, 3,124 females, and 22 non-binary completing the damp and windy miles on a cloudy and very cool day where the temperature only reached 61 degrees. But the weather did little to dampen the spirits of anyone at this iconic race.

The Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon saw records fall dramatically. Tebello Ramakongoana from Lesotho,a small country in South Africa made his debut in Duluth to shatter Meb Keflezighi’s 1:01:22 set in 2013. He ran 1:00:17 and hated the cold and the rain, but his hard training helped him deal with the elements.

In addition to all of the participants, the race this year had a special focus on two time Grandma’s marathon winner Olympian Dakotah Lindwurm. She has quickly become a favorite here since her debut in 2019 (2:34:02). Her two wins (2021 & 2022),her second place , (2023) and beaming smile have endeared her to this community. Dakotah loves the race and truly wanted to race the marathon this year. But she has a date on August 11 to race the Olympic marathon in Paris. So she had to settle for the half this year.

Dakotah’s third place finish at the 2024 Olympic marathon in Orlando last February earned her a coveted spot on Team USA. Due to her popularity and being such an incredible ambassador for Grandma’s, the staff organized activities to promote her and  raise some funds to help her family go to Paris to be with her. She had a non-stop three days as she did a ticketed meet and greet Thursday evening before a shake out run on Friday morning with several hundred runners.She then spent several hours autographing…