DULUTH, Minn. June 21, 2014 – Kenya’s Dominic Ondoro made history today while winning the 38th running of Grandma’s Marathon.
The 26-year-old ran the fastest time ever run on the Grandma’s Marathon course – 2 hours, 9 minutes and 6 seconds, breaking the previous mark of 2:09:37 set in 1981 by Minnesota’s Dick Beardsley.
Ondoro (right, photo by Marlin Levison, Star Tribune), making his Grandma’s Marathon debut, claimed the $10,000 winner’s check plus a $5,000 bonus for running sub-2:10:00. He also receives a new 2014 Toyota, courtesy of one of the events two presenting sponsors.
Betram Keter placed second in 2:11:58 ($7,500), while Chris Kipyego – the 2011 men’s champion – finished third ($5,000) and also won the masters division ($2,500). Both are from Kenya.
Meanwhile, on the women’s side, Kenya’s Pasca Myers ran a personal best 2:33:45 and claimed the women’s title. Myers, who lives in Fort Dodge, Iowa, earned $10,000 for the victory plus a $1,250 bonus for finishing in under 2:34:00.
American Brianne Nelson, of Golden, Colo., was runner-up with a new personal best 2:34:44. Defending champion and course record holder Sarah Kiptoo was third in 2:34:55.
South Korea’s GyuDae Kim won his first Grandma’s Marathon men’s wheelchair title in 1:36:11. Susannah Scaroni, of Urbana, Ill., also won her Grandma’s title, winning the women’s race in 2:02.53.
The 2014 Grandma’s Marathon had 7,964 registrants and of those, 6,229 runners started the race and 6,211 finished. The annual Two Harbors-to-Duluth 26.2-mile race had entrants from 44 countries and all 50 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia.
Kenyans also swept the titles in the 24th Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon. Julius Koskei took the men’s crown in 1:03:36, while the women’s race was won by Cynthia Limo with a time of 1:09:50. Limo’s time was the second fastest in race history and just four seconds off of Kara Goucher’s 2012 course-record mark.
A record number of 8,498 people registered for the 2014 Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon with 7,308 runners starting the race and 7,298 finishing.
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