Weekend Sets All-Time Record with More than 18,000 Finishers
(DULUTH, MINN.) — Joel Reichow’s first question as he crossed the finish line wasn’t about his race – it was whether teammate Dakotah Popehn had beaten him by only hours in the pair’s quest to become the first person to ever win both a Grandma’s Marathon and Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon in Duluth.
Popehn came close – eight seconds, close – but it was Reichow, 31, who made history on Saturday morning, earning the victory in 2:11:58 in his first try at the 26.2-mile distance in Duluth.
Reichow also became the first American and Minnesota native to win Grandma’s Marathon since Chris Raabe did so in 2009 – both men crossed the finish line to raucous cheers, with Duluth spectators appreciating the rarity of what they were watching. Before Raabe, it had been since Mark Curp won in 1995 that an American man crossed the finish line first at Grandma’s Marathon.
Lilian Chebii, meanwhile, was making her first-ever appearance in Duluth and running only the second full marathon of her career. The result was a massive personal record of 2:25:14 – more than three minutes faster than her first – and the fourth fastest time ever for any woman at Grandma’s Marathon.
Chebii, 31, also becomes the first Kenyan woman to win in Duluth since Hellen Jepkurgat in 2017.
Duluthian Eli Blascyk, 22, won the non-binary category with a time of 3:07:53.
There were 7,530 finishers in this year’s Grandma’s Marathon, making it the second largest on record behind only 2024. Full results of the 2025 Grandma’s Marathon can be found HERE.
Including all three races – the 5K, half marathon, and marathon – this was the largest Grandma’s Marathon weekend ever with 18,317 finishers.