50th Anniversary: See The 2026 Grandma’s Marathon Recap + Photo Gallery
The 50th anniversary of Grandma's Marathon is in the books, and it was certainly a big weekend for the event's anniversary.
Between the marathon, half marathon, and 5K events this weekend, there were a total of 19,978 people that crossed the finish line. While the 5K had some rain to contend with, weather for the half and full marathon started off in the 50s with broken cloud cover, warming up as the day went on and sky cleared.
In Saturday's events, several first-time winners during the anniversary event while a fan favorite joined rare company in the race's history.
Here's a breakdown of Saturday's winners, followed by a photo gallery from along the race course and at the finish line.
Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon (Men's)
One of the weekend's first time winners was Roseville, Minnesota native Acer Iverson, who powered past former champions and other favorites to win the race.
Iverson won with a time of 1:01:15, 11 seconds better than Aidan Reed, who was the second place finisher. Iverson also bested 2020 US Olympian Joe Klecker, who took third place, coming in 41 seconds behind the leader.
You can see the full results here.
Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon (Women's)
Another one of the weekend's first time winners was Kasandra Parker in the women's field of the half marathon. This was her first appearance in the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, winning with a time of 1:10:16.
Parker, who lives in Waverly, Iowa, also claimed a first place finish in this year's Naples Half Marathon and a fourth-place finish at this year’s Atlanta Half Marathon. Parker came in 1 minute and 19 seconds ahead of her next-closest competitor, Madey Dickson.
You can see the full results here.
A total of 7,832 people crossed the finish line in the 2026 Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, the third-largest in the event’s history.
Grandma's Marathon (Men's Wheelchair)
Not all of this year's winners were new names. 2024 Colombian Paralympian Luis Francisco Sanclemente won his third-straight Grandma's this year with a time of 1:33:33.
While much of the race was very close, Sanclemente was able to open up a late lead over Josh Cassidy to claim a three-peat.
You can see the full results here.
Grandma's Marathon (Women's Wheelchair)
While this year's winner is not a new name to the race, it is her first year winning the women's wheelchair race.
Michelle Wheeler won this year's race with a time of 1:59:50, beating Hannah Babalola by 3 minutes to finally claim a first place finish after taking second place in 2023 and fourth place in 2022.
You can see the full results here.
There were 27 total finishers – 23 men and four women – in this year's Grandma’s Marathon wheelchair division.
Grandma's Marathon (Men's)
Following the overall trend of new winners this year, two-time Olympian for Eritrea, Amanuel Mesel, earned his first Grandma's Marathon victory for the 50th running of the race.
In order to do this, he had to pull past six-time winner Elisha Barno, managing to finish with a 1 minute and 29 second lead over Barno with a time of 2:11:21.
You can see the full results here.
Grandma's Marathon (Women's)
While several of the day's winners were new to winning their race, this was very much not the case for the winner of the women's field.
Hopkins, Minnesota's Dakotah Popehn won her third Grandma's Marathon today with a time of 2:28:51, 45 seconds ahead of second place finisher Bashanke Bilo.
Popehn also won Grandma's in 2021 and 2022, then competed in the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon the last couple of years.
With Dakotah's third Grandma's victory, she becomes just the third woman in the event’s 50-year history to win three titles. The only other two people are Lorraine Moller and Mary Akor.
You can see the full results here.
This year's Grandma's Marathon was the largest ever, with 9,594 finishers, which is only fitting for the event's 50th anniversary. This year's event broke the previous record by more than 2,000 finishers, which was set last year.
Here is a gallery from the finish line and along the race course, highlighting not only the elite winners, but a number of other participants from Saturday:
2026 Grandma's Marathon & Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon Photos
Gallery Credit: Nick Cooper - TSM Duluth
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