(DULUTH, MINN.) – It was more of the same on Friday afternoon as Mason Shea and Mackenzie Myran were first across the finish line, repeating as champions at the 2026 William A. Irvin 5K.
Shea finished in 14:58 and becomes the winningest men’s runner ever at the William A. Irvin 5K, winning his fourth title to break a tie with Scott Behling. It was, however, the first time he’s managed to go back-to-back.
“Something’s hard about the repeat, I guess,” Shea said. “I wanted to try for the record [of 14:43], but I fell a little short. I was pretty happy to get the win.”
It was Shea’s first time breaking the 15-minute mark in the race, and his time is the eighth fastest in the event’s history. He’s the first repeat winner of the William A. Irvin 5K since 2010-11, when Behling won two in a row.
Shea’s father graduated from Duluth Denfeld High School, and the family has returned many years for Grandma’s Marathon weekend. The pair plans to run this year’s full marathon together, aiming to finish inside of four hours.
Colton Goucher, son of former US Olympians Adam & Kara Goucher, was the runner-up in the men’s race with a time of 16:05. NOTE: Isaac Dickenson crossed the finish line in second place but was disqualified. Race officials are reviewing the circumstances and will make any necessary updates to the results.
Myran, meanwhile, made history last year as the youngest-ever women’s champion at 13 years old and this year, at 14 years old, also takes over the spot as second-youngest women’s champion.
“My family has done this race since I was little,” Myran said, “so it’s cool to be able to now be running it myself. I just wanted to go out today and have fun, but it is pretty cool to repeat.”
Myran, who just completed eighth grade, finished in 18:06 to beat her time from a year ago by nearly 30 seconds. She just completed eighth grade at St. Michael-Albertville and this year finished third in the state in both the 3,200-meters and 1,600-meters.
Regan Niemi was the runner-up, finishing 22 seconds back with a time of 18:28. Former US Olympians Kara Goucher (4th place, 19:48) and Carrie Tollefson (7th place, 20:13) also finished in the top 10 – Tollefson is also the event’s all-time winningest runner with five titles at the William A. Irvin 5K.
Lado Mueller was the non-binary champion, finishing in 21:36 and more than seven minutes ahead of runner-up Mara Fink.
There were 2,525 finishers in this year’s William A. Irvin 5K, narrowly missing the event record of 2,548 set one year ago. Full results of the William A. Irvin 5K can be found HERE.
ABOUT GRANDMA’S MARATHON.
Started by a local group of runners in 1977, Grandma’s Marathon has grown from just 150 participants its first year to now one of the largest and best-known marathons in the United States. Widely regarded as a world class event with small town charm, our race has now added the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon and William A. Irvin 5K to its weekend offerings.
With all three races combined, our race weekend welcomes more than 20,000 participants – usually from all 50 states and from 70+ different countries – and brings with it close to $40M of economic impact to the region.
The race got its name from the Duluth-based group of famous Grandma’s Restaurants, the first major sponsor of the marathon. As the popularity of Grandma’s Marathon weekend 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 10-person, full-time staff and a 17-member Board of Directors.